Solid-state battery maker Solid Power will be backdoor listed and merged entity valued at $1.2 billion

According to foreign media reports, Solid Power, a solid-state battery maker backed by Ford and BMW, said on June 15 that it would merge with blank check company Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corp III to go public, which is an important milestone in the commercialization of the company's next generation of all-solid-state batteries.

The deal values the combined entity of Solid Power at approximately $1.2 billion and is expected to close in the fourth quarter, after which Solid Power will be listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "SLDP".

Solid Power will receive $600m in cash after the merger, including $165 million from private investors such as venture capital firm Koch Strategic Platforms, energy investment firm Riverstone Energy Ltd., global institutional investor Neuberger Berman and asset manager Van Eyck (Van Eck Associates Corp). American Investment Bank Stifel, Nicolaus & Co Inc. Served as Solid Power's financial advisor, Citigroup Global Markets and J.P.Morgan Chase & Co Securities advised the blank cheque company.

Last month, Ford and BMW participated in Solid Power's $135 million B-round financing, which aims to apply the company's low-cost, high-energy battery technology to future electric vehicles.

In 2020, a series of electric vehicle manufacturers, including Lucid, Fisker and Nikola, listed or announced plans for backdoor listing. QuantumScape, a Volkswagen-backed battery maker, also went public last year in a $3.3 billion merger.