Kensington Capital Acquisition surges on SPAC deal to take Bill Gates-backed QuantamScape public

Sigma Advanced Systems

03/09/2020 13:52

** Blank check co Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp
 KCAC.N   KCAC_u.N  shares up 55% at $15.52 premarket
    ** Electric vehicle battery supplier backed by Microsoft
 MSFT.O  co-founder Bill Gates to go public in $3.3 bln merger https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/03/bill-gates-backed-ev-battery-supplier-to-go-public-through-spac-deal.html
 with special purpose acquisition co (SPAC) Kensington 
    ** QuantumScape expected to receive >$1 bln in cash and
funding commitments, led by Volkswagen  VOWG_p.DE  and Qatar's
sovereign wealth fund
    ** This tie-up marks latest SPAC deal for an automotive co
following EV maker Nikola Corporation's  NKLA.O  public debut in
early Jun
    ** Private cos continue to go public by merging with blank
check cos, bypassing the traditional IPO route

 (Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed
are his own)
 ((lance.tupper.tr.com@reuters.net
lance.tupper@tr.com 646-223-5017))