Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has no apparent plans to take Lucid Motors private, with a company executive emphasizing that the sovereign wealth fund’s interests are aligned with other shareholders in pursuing valuation gains.
Nick Twork, Lucid‘s vice president of communications, responded on X Thursday to a user asking about a potential privatization by PIF, which holds approximately 60% of the electric vehicle maker.
“The PIF is a shareholder. Their performance is measured on the performance of their investment and valuation upside. The impact of any theoretical dilution is much higher on them than any other shareholder,” Twork wrote.
“They are long term investors driven by a strategic vision for value creation. Any dilution plays against them, like any investor,” he added. “They are measured on the returns they deliver on a portfolio.”
Lucid‘s board chairman Turqi Alnowaiser, who has served as a director since April 2019, is deputy governor and head of international investments at Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
He has held the position since June 2021 after serving as PIF’s head of international investments from October 2016.
The exchange came after Twork published a statement to Lucid shareholders earlier Thursday, a day after the stock reached a new record low at $11.09.
The company’s market capitalization has fallen to approximately $3.7 billion from a peak of about $90 billion in 2021 despite the expansion plans for 2026 and beyond in Europe, but also in the Middle East and North Africa region.
$8 Billion Investment
PIF first committed $1 billion to Lucid in 2018 to finance development of the Air sedan, construction of its Arizona factory, and the launch of retail operations in North America.
The kingdom also pledged to purchase up to 100,000 Lucid EVs as part of its Vision 2030 program.
After injecting another $1.5 billion a year ago, total investment in the Newark, California-based company stands at approximately $8 billion.
PIF’s US Holdings
The sovereign wealth fund’s US equities portfolio stood at $19.4 billion as of September 30, according to SEC filings.
The fund trimmed its holdings to just six companies after divesting stocks and call options in 51 firms worth a combined $6.5 billion as of June 30.
Stakes in the remaining six companies were unchanged during the third quarter, according to the quarterly portfolio update.
‘Not the Right Strategy’
In an interview with Semafor last October, interim Chief Executive Officer Marc Winterhoff said he was not aware of any plans to take Lucid private.
“I don’t know of any ambitions right now to take it private,” Winterhoff said. “One thing to keep in mind: We are an American company and a global company.”
Winterhoff warned that privatization would transform Lucid into a Saudi carmaker, undermining its global positioning.
“If PIF were to take it private, it would immediately become a Saudi automotive manufacturer — which, outside of the [Gulf] region, would not be the greatest selling point for being a global company,” he said. “So you actually need to, in my opinion, [keep it] the way it is right now to be seen as a global and an American company.”
The interim CEO, who has been serving in the role since Peter Rawlinson’s departure in February, said privatization is not the “right strategy” for the company.
Autonomy Roadmap
In a separate X reply, Twork outlined Lucid‘s autonomous driving plans when asked by another user.
“Our plan, working with NVIDIA, (laid out in this release) ‘…begins with eyes-on, point-to-point driving (L2++) for Lucid Gravity and the company’s upcoming midsize vehicles and ultimately aims to be the first true eyes-off, hands-off, and mind-off (L4) consumer owned autonomous vehicle,'” Twork wrote.
The company announced in October that it plans to deliver one of the world’s first consumer-owned Level 4 autonomous vehicles by integrating NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor into future midsize models.
