Battery manufacturer Microvast takes off

The platform "elective.net" reports on the move of the Microvast headquarters from Frankfurt/Main to Ludwigsfelde, where the assembly of the battery modules is also located. This is set to start as planned at the end of the first quarter in March. The module production line was supplied by Thyssenkrupp and is approximately 100 meters long. According to Microvast, the facility, which has been set up in a hall around 10,500 square meters in size, is expected to produce 500,000 battery modules in the first phase. These will then be temporarily stored in a 5,300 square meter warehouse before distribution across Europe. The delivered individual components will also be stored in the warehouse.

Up to 250 jobs are expected to be created in the medium term

Microvast plans to assemble battery systems in the factory using cells produced by the Chinese sister company Microvast Power Systems Co. Ltd. in China – for example, for mobility applications in electric cars, electric buses and commercial vehicles, but also for stationary energy storage or special applications in heavy-duty machinery for ports or mines. The production capacity is initially expected to be 1.5 GWh per year, later Ludwigsfelde is to be expanded to up to 6 GWh. Up to 250 jobs are then expected to be created. For the first phase of expansion, the company, founded in Texas in 2006, says it has invested around 50 million euros.

Trend among start-ups: Going public through mergers

The parent company Microvast Inc. wants to merge with Tuscan Holdings Corp. and go public on the US stock exchange. The IPO is expected to bring the merged company 540 million dollars (equivalent to just under 450 million euros). According to "elective.net", going public through a merger with an already publicly traded investment company has become very popular in the eMobility sector in recent months. For example, Nikola Motor merged with VectorIQ, while Lordstown wants to take this step with Diamond Peak Holdings. The charging company Chargepoint also wants to merge with Switchback Energy to go public. An interesting side note: the investment companies are mostly established for this purpose and are therefore also referred to as "special-purpose acquisition company" (SPAC). With such a SPAC deal, the usual processes of an independent IPO can be accelerated during a merger, as the respective SPAC is already listed on the stock exchange. In the US, a traditional IPO can take up to two years.

What does this mean?

Microvast is also taking the next steps quickly. It will be interesting to see which customers the company will acquire in Europe and whether the stock market deal will succeed.