Velodyne Lidar announced that it has raised US$150 million in a reverse takeover and will be combining with Graf Industrial to go public in the third quarter of the year. It is expected that Velodyne will be listed on the NYSE under the symbol of VLDR.

Pursuant to the business combination, Graf will acquire Velodyne through a reverse merger in which Velodyne is ascribed an enterprise value of approximately US$1.6 billion and equity value of approximately US$1.8 billion. Following the transaction and after payment of transaction expenses, Velodyne is expected to add approximately $190 million of cash to its balance sheet and up to US$50 million of total cash consideration will be paid to existing Velodyne shareholders.
Current Velodyne shareholders, including David Hall and strategic investors Ford, Baidu, Nikon Corporation and Hyundai Mobis, will retain an equity interest of more than 80% in the combined company.
“Partnering with Graf Industrial will provide the opportunity to enhance our leading position in the lidar and sensor markets broadly around the world, creating new and exciting opportunities for our customers and employees,” said Velodyne’s CEO Anand Gopalan. “We will continue to focus on executing our strategic plan to deliver strong and disciplined growth, while realizing attractive returns through prudent capital management.”