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German electric air taxi developer Lilium to be listed on Nasdaq

To this end, the company is merging with Qell, a special purpose entity which is already listed, the company announced in March.

Published September 12,2021
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Munich-based electric air taxi developer Lilium is due to be listed on the US-based Nasdaq stock exchange on Wednesday.

To this end, the company is merging with Qell, a special purpose entity which is already listed, the company announced in March.

Qell said that shareholders had voted in favour of the deal on Friday. The deal values the merged company at 3.3 billion dollars.

Aviation startup Lilium's seven-seat electric jets are to be built in Germany.

They are to take off and land vertically, but cover the distance with the help of wings like those on conventional aircraft.

Lilium plans to build take-off and landing sites in Florida together with airport operator Ferrovial.

Brazilian airline Azul aims to buy 220 Lilium electric jets for 1 billion dollars, and is also planning a strategic cooperation.

The transaction reportedly raised about 584 million dollars for the merged company, although nearly two-thirds of Qell shareholders returned their shares.

However, Lilium boss Daniel Wiegand greeted the step, saying it brought the company closer to its commercial launch, planned for 2024, he said in a statement.

Quell is a special purpose acquisition company, a vehicle allowing investors to raise money through an IPO to later merge with a company that is not listed yet.

However, for Qell investors, this has not yet been fruitful. The shares were placed last autumn at 10 dollars each, and although they rose at times to 15 dollars, this kind of asset class has grown less popular. Even after the announcement of the Lilium merger, one share cost only 9.99 dollars.