Gogoro Inc (睿能創意) yesterday said it is on track to debut its shares on the NASDAQ by the end of this quarter through a merger with special-purpose acquisition company Poema Global Holdings Corp.
The Taoyuan-based electric scooter maker and battery swapping service provider made the comments after it gained Hero Motocorp, Engine No. 1 and other investors in the middle of last month, raising its oversubscribed private investment in public equity from US$257 million to US$285 million.
“We are working through due diligence for [the US Securities and Exchange Commission]. We should complete it, we hope, in the first week of March,” Gogoro chief financial officer Bruce Aitken told an online news conference. “We are on track to complete the overall transaction by the end of the first quarter. It is our goal.”
Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters
Gogoro shares would be listed on the NASDAQ under the stock symbol “GGR.”
Asked what attracted it to Gogoro, Engine No. 1 portfolio manager Edward Sun said that when he first met Gogoro founder and chief executive officer Horace Luke (陸學森) in 2017, Gogoro mostly focused on making hardware, or electric scooters.
Sun said he thought it might be too risky to bet on an electric scooter maker, but he became interested after Gogoro strategically shifted its business model to capitalize on selling green energy by subscription.
“Subscription is a high-margin business and is something sustainable,” he said.
The battery swapping service offered by Gogoro is a better solution than traditional charging methods, Sun said.
Furthermore, Gogoro’s new business model is “almost like the Android of the electric scooter world,” as it is forming partnerships with other vehicle makers, Sun said.
Those partnerships in China, India and Southeast Asia would greatly increase Gogoro’s chances of penetrating these emerging markets, he said.
The market size in China, India and Southeast Asia combined is 80 times larger than the market in Taiwan, he said, adding that in India, 82 percent of all vehicles are two wheelers, while the figure in Indonesia is even higher at 90 percent.
Gogoro last month said that it has teamed up with Electrum to build an electric vehicle ecosystem in Indonesia, the third-largest two-wheel vehicle market in the world, with a focus on two-wheel vehicles and developing a high-efficiency battery.
In China, Gogoro is partnering with China’s biggest scooter maker, Yadea Technology Group Co (雅迪科技集團), and Jiangmen Dachangjiang Group Co (大江集團).
Gogoro also plans to expand its reach into New Delhi by teaming up with Hero MotoCorp Ltd, India’s biggest motorcycle maker.
As an activist firm, Engine No. 1 helped ExxonMobil Corp and General Motors in slashing global carbon dioxide emissions, but Sun did not disclose any substantial plan to accelerate Gogoro’s decarbonization.
Engine No. 1 in May last year won a campaign to replace three seats on the board of Exxon Mobil, but it has no plan to take any seats on Gogoro’s board.
“Gogoro has a strong board. There is no reason to take a board seat,” Sun said.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
RECORD LOW: Global firms’ increased inventories, tariff disputes not yet impacting Taiwan and new graduates not yet entering the market contributed to the decrease Taiwan’s unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest for the month in 25 years, as strong exports and resilient domestic demand boosted hiring across various sectors, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. After seasonal adjustments, the jobless rate eased to 3.34 percent, the best performance in 24 years, suggesting a stable labor market, although a mild increase is expected with the graduation season from this month through August, the statistics agency said. “Potential shocks from tariff disputes between the US and China have yet to affect Taiwan’s job market,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling
RSS