Yahoo Finance Electric car charging company to raise £120m in London listing
An electric car charging company plans to raise £120m on the London Stock Exchange in a test of investor appetite for cashing in on the switch away from petrol vehicles.
Pod Point, which is owned by French energy giant EDF and Legal & General, said it was targeting a float in November.
The company controls between 50pc and 60pc of the at home charging market and is hoping to capitalise on the potentially vast market for car chargers. At least 25m home points will be required for electric vehicles by 2040.
Erik Fairbairn, Pod Point's founder and chief executive, said: “We are at the beginning of the inflection point for electric vehicles. 22pc of all new vehicles registered in the UK now have a plug-in point on them. In eight or nine years all vehicles will have a plug on them.”
He added expanding electric vehicle charging points would be “key in enabling the mass adoption of electric vehicles”.
Last year, the Government confirmed it would ban the sale of new petrol cars within a decade, triggering a race to upgrade the UK’s road and home infrastructure to make it ready for millions more battery powered cars.
Pod Point said an issue of new shares was expected to raise £120m, while L&G and some employees would have the opportunity to sell shares in the offering.
The float is expected to net a substantial windfall for EDF, which acquired Pod Point last year in a deal reportedly valuing the company at £110m. The float is likely to value the business in the hundreds of millions of pounds.
Mr Fairbairn added that the upcoming Cop26 in Glasgow, where Boris Johnson will hope to hammer home Britain’s green credentials on the world stage, would be “massively important” for moving decarbonisation “higher up the national agenda, and globally everyone has to do their bit. EV charging alone is not the solution”.
Confirmation of Pod Point’s float plans came as automotive powerhouses Toyota and Stellantis on Monday unveiled plans to build battery gigafactories in the US.
The Japanese giant plans to invest $3.4bn (£2.5bn) by 2030 on developing battery production, part of a $13.5bn drive into electrification revealed last month.
The company has previously been seen as slow to move into the battery-vehicle market, despite snatching an early lead in alternatively powered cars with its hybrid-electric Prius.
Toyota aims to start production in 2025 at the new US facility, which the company says will create 1,750 new jobs.
Peugeot and Vauxhall-owner Stellantis also said it would build a facility to produce batteries in the country, part of a €30bn (£25bn) programme to develop electric vehicles and their supply chains.
Stellantis, which was formed through the merger of PSA and Fiat Chrysler earlier this year, has previously said it aims to build five gigafactories in Europe and the US by 2030.
