(Bloomberg) — A Saudi family that built its business on gasoline-fueled cars is sitting on an almost $8.9 billion fortune after electric truck maker Rivian Automative Inc.’s initial public offering.
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Abdul Latif Jameel, a Jeddah-based group named after its founder and today run by his sons, holds almost 114 million shares in Rivian acquired through $303 million of loans made to the U.S. company, according to the sale prospectus. Shares of Rivian are due to start trading in New York Wednesday at $78 each, valuing the company at about $76.4 billion on a fully diluted basis.
Read: EV Maker Rivian Raises $11.9 Billion in Year’s Biggest IPO
The stake puts Abdul Latif Jameel alongside the biggest backers of Irvine, California-based Rivian, including Amazon.com Inc. and Ford Motor Co. The Saudi company, founded in 1945 as a small trading business, is now better known in its home market as the distributor for Toyota Motor Corp.’s vehicles.
Abdul Latif Jameel’s investment unit acquired warrants for Rivian stock in 2018. It was the first investment by the Saudi company, according to Rivian’s IPO filings, though an article in the magazine of management consultant McKinsey & Co. published in 2020 said it had first invested eight years earlier.
Electric vehicle stocks have soared this year amid rising concern about climate change, improving battery technology and higher fuel costs. Tesla Inc. shares have jumped 45%.
Abdul Latif Jameel isn’t the only Saudi investor to benefit from an early investment in an electric-vehicle manufacturer. The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund put $1 billion into Lucid Group Inc. in 2018, followed by a further $600 million this year as the firm went public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.
Tuesday’s offering raised about $11.9 billion for Rivian, making it the biggest IPO this year. The truckmaker earlier marketed 135 million shares at $72 to $74 after elevating that range from $57 to $62, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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