QEV Technologies finalizes an agreement to go public

QEV Technologies is one of the main companies facing the challenge of filling the gap left by Nissan at the plants in the Barcelona Free Zone and Montcada i Reixac. Together with its partner Btech, they have committed to invest 300 million euros in three years and start production of zero-emission vehicles next year. But both companies had a ballast: the lack of financial muscle. QEV has announced this Thursday that it is finalizing an agreement to jump to the Amsterdam Stock Exchange in the hands of a financial partner, Spear Investments. The “implicit value” of the company is around 200 million euros, he said. Obtaining more capital would allow it to use the 57 million euros it obtained in the first call for the Strategic Project for the Economic Recovery and Transformation of the electric vehicle (PERTE-VEC).

QEV’s listing on the stock market marks a step similar to that taken by the Barcelona-based manufacturer of charging points for electric vehicles, Wallbox, when it went public on the New York Stock Exchange. It will be combined with Spear Investments I, a company without content but which is already listed, which makes it possible to alleviate the procedures to jump to the stock market. It is a SPAC, a special purpose acquisition company (the acronym stands for Special Purpose Acquisition Companies), with which its promoters seek financing from other investors to later carry out other corporate operations.

In this case, the SPAC was launched by AZ Capital and STJ Advisors, which will enter into the capital of QEV. The Inveready fund, already presenting the capital, will reinforce its presence, and other companies are expected to enter the capital before the IPO, which could be confirmed as of September.

QEV, until now a small artisan of electric cars and especially competition cars, although it is the architect of the return to the luxury market of Hispano-Suiza, has barely delivered around 250 cars to its customers until this year. By 2023, it plans to deliver a thousand and reach a turnover of 1,000 million euros, but the big leap is expected once it consolidates its business in the old Nissan facilities: selling 16,000 electric cars in 2027.

“The potential merger and listing in Amsterdam Euronext will allow us to take a significant leap in sustainable mobility in Spain and Europe, while further validating the reindustrialization process of the Barcelona Free Trade Zone,” said Joan Orús, CEO of QEV, through a statement. For its part, Spear Investments has defended the commitment to QEV: “Our investment criteria included, among others, a company based in Europe, with solid fundamentals, that uses technology, innovation and/or new business models to drive superior growth and profitability with limited technological or adoption risk, with a short-term profitability path, and a company that may have solid environmental, climate and/or sustainability credentials.”

QEV plans to manufacture vans of its Zeroid brand in the Barcelona facilities. Together with Btech, which will manufacture station wagons through the reborn Ebro brand, it is the great hope for rebuilding an industrial space that will pick up the gauntlet of the automotive industry and take the step towards manufacturing vehicles only in electric version.

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