Amazon’s electric truck maker IPO could raise up to $8.4bn

RIYADH: Rivian Automotive, the electric truck maker backed by Amazon, is seeking to raise as much as $8.4 billion in an IPO that could give it a market value of up to $53 billion, Bloomberg reported.

The business plans to allocate up to 7 per cent of its shares to eligible US customers who had pre-orders as of September 30, while up to 0.5 per cent of the IPO shares will be given to SoFi Securities LLC’s online brokerage platform to attract retail investors.

The offering is being led by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase and Co.

The company has attracted cornerstone investors that indicated interest in buying up to $5 billion of the IPO shares, a filing shows.

Investors participating in that share deal will include Amazon, T. Rowe Price, Coatue Management, Franklin Templeton, Capital Research Global Investors, D1 Capital, Third Point Investors, Blackstone, Dragoneer Investment Group and Soros Funds.

Rivian shares are likely to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol RIVN.

The firm is among the most serious competitors lining up to take on Tesla, according to Bloomberg. The listing would eclipse the June IPO by XPeng Inc. as the largest ever for an electric vehicle maker IPO.

The company’s fully diluted value would be closer to $60 billion, accounting for employee stock options and restricted stock units, compared to a valuation of $27.6 billion after a $2.65 billion funding round in January, Bloomberg reported.