Done Deal: VectoIQ's Merger With Nikola Motor Has Closed

VectoIQ Acquisition (NASDAQ: VTIQ) said on Wednesday that its much-anticipated merger with electric heavy-truck maker Nikola Motor has closed, a day after its shareholders voted to approve the transaction. The deal provides Nikola with more than $700 million in new cash, much of it from a related "PIPE" (private investment in public equity) transaction where investors, including Fidelity Investments and hedge-fund manager P. Schoenfeld Asset Management, bought shares of the combined company at a discounted price. Nikola, founded in 2014 by Trevor Milton, has developed a series of all-electric Class 8 (tractor-trailer) trucks that have attracted considerable interest from the trucking industry as well as investors.