Lithium Stock SES, Backed By No. 1 U.S., China Automakers, To Go Public| Investor’s Business Daily

Lithium stock SES will debut by year end as General Motors (GM) and other automakers anticipate a battle over battery supplies amid a global electric vehicle boom.

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SES Holdings, a lithium-metal EV battery supplier, will combine with Ivanhoe Capital Acquisition Corp. (IVAN) via a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, merger valuing the combined company at $3.6 billion. It will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SES upon the deal’s closing in the third or fourth quarter of 2021.

SES will get $476 million in proceeds to fund expansion plans. That includes $276 million from Ivanhoe and $200 million from a private investment in public equity or PIPE.

Investors in the PIPE include General Motors and SAIC, the No. 1 automakers in the U.S. and China, respectively, as well as South Korea’s Hyundai.

Singapore-based SES touts a raft of heavyweight backers among U.S. and Asian automakers and battery cell makers. GM’s support of the company goes back to 2015.

It was founded in 2012 as a spinout company of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

SES expects „hybrid“ lithium-metal batteries to enable the next generation of long-range and affordable electric vehicles. The hybrid approach combines the superior energy density of li-metal with the proven manufacturing efficiencies of lithium-ion batteries, it said in a statement.

Meanwhile, automakers like GM are exploring lithium-metal batteries as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries, in the hopes of creating a higher-capacity, lower-cost battery. Lithium is a key battery material used in the cathodes and electrolytes of electric vehicles.

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Lithium Stocks

Shares of Ivanhoe fell 4.4% in Tuesday’s stock market. The soon-to-be SES stock tested the 50-day line.

Among other lithium stocks, Piedmont Lithium (PLL) dropped 4.8%, and Lithium Americas (LAC) lost 4.5%.

Automakers expect to need a lot of lithium to meet ambitious targets to produce and sell electric vehicles, in a shift away from gas and diesel cars.

In July, GM announced a deal to source lithium from Australian firm CTR’s deposits in California.

Last September, Tesla (TSLA) signed a multiyear deal locking up a third of Piedmont Lithium supplies from deposits in North Carolina.

By 2035, GM plans to only sell electric vehicles. The number of EVs on the world’s roads will jump to 145 million in 2030 from 10 million in 2020, according to the International Energy Agency.

Find Aparna Narayanan on Twitter at @IBD_Aparna.

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