Lidar maker AEye valuation slips to $1.5 bln on new SPAC merger terms

Aeye

03/05/2021 16:55

May 3 (Reuters) - AEye Inc and a blank-check firm backed by
financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald on Monday amended
their merger agreement, valuing the lidar sensor maker at $1.52
billion, citing valuation changes of publicly traded lidar
companies.
    In February, AEye had agreed to go public through a merger
with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) CF Finance
Acquisition Corp III  CFAC.O , in a deal that valued the company
at $2 billion.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2KN2RQ
    The companies attributed the terms of the amended deal to
"changing conditions" in the automotive lidar industry. 
    Lidar peers Ouster Inc  OUST.N  and Peter Thiel-backed
Luminar Technologies Inc  LAZR.O , which also took the SPAC
route to get publicly listed, have lost 10% and 22% of their
value, respectively, since making their market debuts.
    Founded in 2013 by former Lockheed Martin  LMT.N  and NASA
engineer Luis Dussan, AEye is one of several firms specializing
in a relatively young technology that uses light-based sensors
to generate a three-dimensional view of the road.
    Blank-check firms, or SPACs, like CF III are shell companies
that raise funds through an initial public offering to take a
private company public. 
    Lidar sensors, which use laser light pulses to render
precise images of the environment around the car, are seen as
essential by many automakers to allow higher levels of driver
assistance, right up to making them capable of self-driving.   

 (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by
Ramakrishnan M.)
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