Lordstown Motors SPAC Shares Steady after White House Visit
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – DiamondPeak Holdings Corp.’s share price climbed 1.67% to $27.40 on Tuesday, one day after President Donald Trump praised a prototype of Lordstown Motors Corp.’s all-electric Endurance pickup at the White House.
DiamondPeak, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, has seen its stock price jump 162.2% since it announced on Aug. 3 that it would acquire Lordstown Motors and infuse more than $675 million into the fledgling automaker.
The stock hit its peak price of $31.40 on Sept. 21.
On Monday, Lordstown Motors’ CEO Steve Burns and two company employees joined Trump; U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio; U.S. Rep. Michael Turner, Ohio R-10; and Peter Navarro, White House director of trade and manufacturing policy on the South Lawn of the White House for the event.
“Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is incredible,” the president said as he inspected the new all-electric truck. The vehicle is a four-hub motor pickup and is slated for production at General Motors’ former Lordstown plant beginning next summer. “I think this is an incredible concept.”
GM shuttered the Lordstown plant in March 2019 and sold it to Lordstown Motors in November 2019. “We’ve been working on this a very, very long time,” the president told reporters Monday.
GM has invested $75 million into the Lordstown Motors venture. About $50 million of that comes in the form of a line of credit GM extended to the company so it could purchase and begin retooling the sprawling plant.
Another equity investor in Lordstown Motors, Workhorse Group, saw its share price tumble 3.66% Tuesday to $27.10 after enjoying a 16% surge on Monday in the wake of the White House event.
Since the DiamondPeak announcement, shares of Workhorse have climbed 74.6% and have soared 672% compared to the same period last year.
Workhorse, founded by Burns and based in Loveland, Ohio, produces all-electric vans and was in the process last year of building an all-electric pickup, the W-15. Burns resigned as CEO of the company and formed Lordstown Motors, which intends to use Workhorse technology to build the Endurance. Workhorse retains a 10% stake in the company.
The merger between DiamondPeak and Lordstown Motors is expected to close in the fall. Once the deal is secure, the new venture will be listed on NASDAQ under the ticker RIDE.
Pictured at top: President Donald J. Trump, joined by Assistant to the President for Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro and Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), tours a Lordstown Motors 2021 Endurance Monday, Sept. 28, 2020, on the South Lawn of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
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