Polestar shareholders: Who owns the most PSNY stock?
Swedish electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Polestar Automotive (PSNY) went public on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange on 24 June 2022 through a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Gores Guggenheim.
Polestar is differentiated from other electric vehicle (EV) makers in that it had already started production at the time of the stock exchange listing with 55,000 cars on the road.
The company launched a full-size electric SUV in October and plans to roll out more models over the coming years.
The company’s stock has taken a beating this year. PSNY has lost over 60% of its value to date in 2022 and is currently (24 October) trading at just over $4, down from a high of over $13 in late 2021.
PSNY Live Stock Price Chart
Polestar was founded in its current form in 2017 by Swedish automotive manufacturer Volvo Cars (VOLVa) and its parent company Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (0175). They remain the largest of Polestar’s major shareholders.
Who are the other shareholders of Polestar with the largest stakes? How much of Polestar’s stock do Volvo and Geely own after the listing? How does that compare to institutional investment and insider ownership?
If you’re considering investing in Polestar, it’s important to understand the company’s stock ownership as the biggest Polestar shareholders can move the share price if they buy or sell large volumes of the stock, affecting the value of your position.
In this article, we look at the breakdown of Polestar’s biggest shareholders.
What is Polestar Automotive?
Polestar Automotive is a pure-play, premium electric performance car company, which aims to accelerate the shift toward sustainable mobility.
The company has technological and engineering synergies with Volvo and benefits from economies of scale, as Volvo has committed to using a hybrid or full-electric powertrain in all of its models.
Polestar manufactures its cars in China and plans to build additional manufacturing capacity in the US. Polestar’s vehicles are sold in markets across Europe, North America, China and Asia-Pacific.
The company plans to reach 30 markets by 2023. From 2022, the company plans to launch one new EV a year.
The company’s share price has lost close to 65% year-to-date (YTD) and trades at around the $4.20 mark, as of 24 October.
What is your sentiment on PSNY?
Who are the biggest Polestar shareholders?
Polestar’s Class A and Class C-1 American Depositary Shares (ADSs) are listed on the NASDAQ under the tickers PSNY and PSNYW, respectively.
The company has registered 2.23bn Class A ADSs, 25mn Class A ADSs issuable upon conversion of Class C ADSs and 9m Class C-2 ADSs, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Who owns the most shares of Polestar?
Following the SPAC merger and Nasdaq listing, Volvo Cars said that it would own 48.3% of the combined company. Institutional investors own just 1.1% of the stock, according to data from Simply Wall Street and Wall Street Zen. Although data from Nasdaq shows institutions holding 4.99%. Retail investors own 4.1% of the company and insiders 0.07%, according to Wall Street Zen.
Institutional shareholders
Volvo Cars
An SEC filing on 23 June showed Volvo (VOLVa) and Geely holding a combined 2bn shares, equivalent to a 94.7% stake in the company.
That included 295m Class A ADSs and 1.6bn Class B ADSs held directly by Polestar Automotive Holding, with each Class A Share representing one vote and each Class B Share representing 10 votes. It did not include 16m Class C-1 preferred ADSs and 9m Class C-2 ADSs. Polestar Automotive directly owned 91.8%, the filing showed, with Zhejiang Geely Holding Group owning 61.2m shares for a separate 2.9% stake.
Volvo has retained ownership of Polestar through several iterations. Polestar was originally founded in 1996 by Volvo Cars' partner Flash Engineering to build a race car for the Volvo team in the Swedish Touring Car Championship.
Geely acquired Volvo in 2010. Volvo acquired Polestar’s performance division in 2015 to focus on improving its own performance division. The racing division continued to operate as a separate business, under the name Cyan Racing. In 2017, Polestar shifted to become an electric performance car brand.
Geely
Polestar provides Geely (0175), one of China’s largest carmakers, with a premium electric car brand. It expects Polestar to help develop China as a manufacturing hub for Volvo, enhance Volvo’s work on electrification and connectivity and form part of its international expansion.
Polestar’s stock exchange listing has enabled Geely to raise financing from Polestar shareholders for its expansion outside China. It had also reportedly considered an initial public offering (IPO) of Volvo in Sweden as an alternative to Polestar’s SPAC merger. After the listing, affiliates of Geely Chairman Eric Li hold around 39% of the company’s stock, according to an SEC filing.
AMF Fonder
Swedish investment firm AMF Fonder, a subsidiary of insurance company AMF Tjanstepension, owned 4.4m shares in Polestar at the end of June 2022, according to its quarterly SEC filing. That amounted to a 0.21% stake in the company and made it the biggest among the institutional shareholders of Polestar.
AMF invested €400m in Polestar when it listed on the Nasdaq.
Anders Oscarsson, head of equity at AMF, commented on the decision:
BNP Paribas Asset Management
French investment firm BNP Paribas (BNP) bought 3.4m Polestar shares when it went public, based on its quarterly SEC filing, equivalent to a 0.16% stake.
That has made it the second-largest institution among PSNY shareholders. At the same time, BNP sold 87.58% of its stake in Chinese EV maker NIO.
In July, Polestar signed a deal with BNP Paribas to provide financial services to Polestar dealers and customers until December 2024.
Saba Capital Management
US-based investment firm Saba Capital Management held 3.2m Polestar shares at the end of June, according to its quarterly SEC filing. That made it the company’s third largest institutional shareholder, with a stake of 0.15%.
Insider shareholders
The biggest insider Polestar shareholders are members of its management team.
Chairman Hakan Samuelsson owns 774,400 shares for a 0.037% stake, according to Simply Wall Street.
The company’s CEO Thomas Ingenlath, who was previously senior vice president of design at Volvo Cars, holds 310,000 shares for a 0.015% stake.
Board member Carla D. De Geyseleer owns 193,750 shares for a 0.0092% stake. Fellow board member David Richter holds 132,525 shares, equating to a 0.0063% stake in the company.
The bottom line
Why should you be interested in a company’s share ownership? Investors that have substantial holdings in a company’s stock can have an influence over the share price when they buy and sell the stock, which can in turn affect the value of your investment.
However, a company’s share ownership is only a small part of the picture and should not be the main deciding factor when you buy or sell a stock.
Whether PSNY shares are a suitable investment for you will depend on your investing goals, trading strategy, risk tolerance, and the size of your portfolio. You should do your own research before making any investment or trading decision. And never invest or trade money that you cannot afford to lose.
FAQs
How many Polestar shares are there?
Polestar has 2.23bn Class A shares and 9m Class C shares, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
How many shareholders does Polestar have?
Who owns the Polestar company?
Swedish automotive manufacturer Volvo Cars remains the largest shareholder in Polestar following its stock exchange listing with a 48.3% stake.
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