Churchill Capital Corp IV plunges 35% after Lucid Motors strikes SPAC deal to go public with a $24 billion valuation

Churchill Capital Corp IV plunges 35% after Lucid Motors strikes SPAC deal to go public with a $24 billion valuation

Shares in Churchill Capital IV fell as much as 35% in early trading on Tuesday after the blank-check company's merger with Lucid Motors was announced. 

Electric-vehicle maker Lucid confirmed it deal would go public via the special-purpose acquisition company run by financier Michael Klein with a pro-forma equity value of $24 billion. 

The deal will generate about $4.4 billion in cash for 14-year-old Lucid, which plans to use the funds to expand its manufacturing facility in Arizona. The facility has a production capacity of 365,000 units per year at scale.

Churchill's pre-market stock performance is a reversal from previous sessions when reports on the deal sparked consecutive rallies.

Speculation over the deal has been going around for over a month. Earlier in February, shares in Churchill Capital IV soared 33% on a report the SPAC was nearing an agreement. On Monday, shares spiked 19% after Bloomberg said a deal could be announced Tuesday.

Lucid's deal with Churchill, which is expected to close in the second quarter of this year, marks one of the highest-profile SPAC arrangements in the EV space after a wave of interest in electric-vehicle startups and automotive tech suppliers. That may have been sparked by a rally in Tesla's shares over the