Lucid subpoenaed by SEC concerning SPAC merger with CCIV

Regulators from the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) have requested documents from Lucid Group Inc. relating to the investigation of its SPAC merger with Churchill Capital Corp. IV (CCIV) earlier this year.

Lucid Motors has quickly become one of the rising names in electric vehicles, having begun initial deliveries of its flagship vehicle, the Air Dream Edition, this past fall.

Prior to this launch, Lucid had confirmed speculated rumors that it would be entering into a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) merger with CCIV, a blank check shell company founded by Michael Klein.

The merger was approved this past July, resulting in the companies joining the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol $LCID and combining for a pro-forma equity value of $24 billion. Lucid’s SPAC merger with CCIV joined a growing number of other EV companies that took a similar approach. This includes Faraday Future, Fisker, Lordstown Motors, and Canoo (also under SEC investigation).

Since the CCIV merger, Lucid has remained focused on delivering all 520 of the promised Dream Editions, with three additional trims in its production queue.

Now, however, Lucid’s progress might be slowed a bit, as it works with the SEC during its investigation of the approved merger with CCIV.

Lucid joins SEC’s growing watch list following its CCIV SPAC merger

According to a report by Reuters, Lucid Group Inc. received a request on December 3 from the SEC, for documents pertaining to its merger with CCIV. A regulatory 8-K filing from Lucid dated December 6 states the following:

On December 3, 2021, Lucid Group, Inc. (the ‘Company’) received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission (the ‘SEC’) requesting the production of certain documents related to an investigation by the SEC. Although there is no assurance as to the scope or outcome of this matter, the investigation appears to concern the business combination between the Company (f/k/a Churchill Capital Corp. IV) and Atieva, Inc. and certain projections and statements. The Company is cooperating fully with the SEC in its review.

Representatives for Lucid told Electrek the company has an official statement coming later today, which we will be sure to update you on. According to Reuters, the SEC had no comment on its action against Lucid or its merger with CCIV.

Stock of Lucid as well as other EV companies with approved SPACs fell today following the news. Many of these companies are or are hoping to compete with Tesla, which is coincidentally under its own SEC investigation pertaining to solar panel fire risks.

The Lucid story is ongoing and will be updated and we learn more.