VOW3 Volkswagen AG

By Colin Kellaher

QuantumScape Corp., an electric-vehicle battery startup backed by Germany's Volkswagen AG, on Thursday unveiled plans to go public by combining with blank-check company Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp.

The deal, which gives the combined company an implied enterprise value of $3.3 billion, sent shares of special-purpose acquisition company Kensington soaring.

Kensington, which in June raised $200 million in an upsized initial public offering, said the transaction raises more than $700 million for QuantumScape, including $500 million from a from a fully committed private placement led by institutional investors including Fidelity Management & Research Co. and Janus Henderson Investors.

Volkswagen, which has worked with QuantumScape since 2012, in June said it would invest an additional $200 million in the startup, bringing its total investment to more than $300 million. QuantumScape and VW in 2018 formed a joint venture aimed at industrial-level production of solid-state batteries for use in VW's vehicles.

On completion of the transaction, expected by the end of the year, the combined company will be named QuantumScape and will remain listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol QS, the companies said.

Shares of Kensington surged 57% to $15.70 in early trading Thursday.

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 03, 2020 10:19 ET (14:19 GMT)

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