Hyliion Holdings debuted Wednesday after the electric-vehicle startup closed its merger with blank-check company Tortoise Acquisition. Fellow EV startup Fisker awaits a key shareholder vote on its proposed merger with Spartan Energy Acquisition. Hyliion stock popped.
Electric-truck startup Hyliion opened at 28.25 in New York trading and closed higher.
Hyliion and Fisker agreed to their respective mergers this summer, part of a crush of electric-vehicle startups looking to go public via deals with blank-check companies. Tortoise stockholders approved the combination with Hyliion on Sept. 28, paving the way for Wednesday's stock market debut. Spartan stockholders are set to vote Oct. 28 on the combination with Fisker.
Special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, offer a way for private companies to go public without an IPO. Instead of selling stock, the private enterprise mergers with a shell company that's already public.
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The deal with Tortoise provides Hyliion with $560 million to develop and commercialize its electric trucks. Founded in 2015, Hyliion focuses on electrified powertrains for commercial transport vehicles.
Meanwhile, Fisker will trade under the symbol FSR if its proposed merger is approved. Fisker announced Wednesday that it will shift headquarters from Austin, Texas, to Manhattan Beach, Calif.
Hyliion Stock, Electric Car Stocks
Shares of Hyliion leapt 10% to 29.14 on the stock market today. Spartan Energy stock climbed 1.1% to 14.32 Wednesday. Nikola, an EV truck startup that came public earlier this year via a SPAC merger, fell 0.5%.
Hyliion plans to make the all-electric ERX Hypertruck. Fisker plans to produce the all-electric Ocean SUV.
This year, surging shares of Tesla and Nio excited investors about new electric-car stocks. Nio stock gapped up 23% to race past a 22.69 buy point Wednesday. The move came as JPMorgan forecast Nio will take a 30% share of the premium EV market that Tesla dominates.
Tesla stock rose 3.3% to 461.30, clearing a 448.98 buy point.
Find Aparna Narayanan on Twitter at @IBD_Aparna.
