Nice breakout today. Hopefully loosened up to be able to continue an upward move going forward especially after the merger closes tomorrow.

$FIII WOW !! Now if only we could turn some meme stock eyes onto this ?!

Let me work on them

HUGELY BULLISH NEWS, this massive purchase (500k shares = $4.9 million) by FIII mgmt, announced after hours today. That's a big vote of confidence.

“This additional investment [$4.9M] in Forum ahead of our business combination with Electric Last Mile, Inc. is a testament to our confidence in ELMS’ future as a leader in the commercial electric vehicle industry,” said a member of the Forum management team. “With an expected first-mover advantage and seasoned leadership team, we believe ELMS is strongly positioned to redefine the last mile industry and we look forward to supporting their efforts. As we approach the close of the business combination, we continue to be excited for the future of ELMS.”

Glad I added

Yes, scheduled for this coming Thurs, June 24.
Looks like a shortseller bear raid today to exploit fears of "big % redemption rate happening! ELMS won't get enough money!" --It's all a ruse to separate you from your shares.

I talked with Erik Grossman, IR contact person for ELMS, and he said "no one knows what the redemption rate is until the vote closes."

$FIII huge Merger vote this week ?!

ELMS' IR person Erik confirmed for me over the weekend by email that the merger is still expected to be complete this quarter (i.e., by June 30) and that first production is still scheduled by late Q3 (i.e., late Sept.).

Let's see how fast they can ramp up to meet that "overwhelming demand" that new distribution partner Randy Marion confirmed in the news filed last week.

Throwing some "safe" money in this

FIII (Spac) / ELMS (target) - Very positive distribution-partner news for ELMS' Urban Delivery EV van with RMA. It's impressive to hear what Randy Marion, the Founder/CEO of RMA, has to say about the "overwhelming" demand for the ELMS electric van:

ELMS Selects Randy Marion Automotive Group as First Strategic Distribution Partner

May 19 2021 - 08:00AM
Business Wire

--Randy Marion Automotive Group (RMA), one of the largest commercial fleet dealers in the nation, is selected as ELMS’ first Strategic Distribution Partner for the Urban Delivery

--RMA is expected to order 6,000 Urban Delivery EVs subject to the finalization of the commercial relationship

--ELMS also partnering with RMA for testing with existing and potential RMA customers

--The ELMS Urban Delivery is anticipated to be the first Class 1 commercial EV available in the U.S. market and is expected to offer fleets a lower total cost of ownership versus competing gas vehicles

------------

Electric Last Mile, Inc. (“ELMS” or “the Company”) today announced a new collaboration with Randy Marion Automotive Group’s commercial division (“RMA”) that selects RMA as the Company’s first Strategic Distribution Partner to help execute the launch of the Urban Delivery. By partnering with RMA, ELMS believes it can bring the anticipated first Class 1 commercial EV available in the U.S. market to fleet customers of all sizes and geographies across the country.

The agreement between ELMS and RMA, one of the nation’s largest commercial dealerships, also proposes to cover an order of 6,000 Urban Delivery vehicles subject to the finalization of the commercial relationship. This would represent a significant portion of ELMS’ initial launch volume through the first half of 2022 for RMA’s commercial fleet customers.

“Our fleet customers are seeking solutions that both address their sustainability goals and also drive their bottom line,” said Randy Marion, founder and CEO of RMA. “After presenting the Urban Delivery, the demand from our customers across the country has been overwhelming, and by working with ELMS, we expect we can deliver them the first Class 1 commercial EV in the U.S. market.”

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Randy Marion Automotive Group, one of the largest and most prominent commercial dealers in the country, to combine our anticipated first-to-market Class 1 commercial EV with an established commercial fleet customer network,” said James Taylor, co-founder and CEO of ELMS. “This is really a new and bold approach by Randy Marion to jump the curve on fleet electrification, and a strong validation of our differentiated business model and expected first mover advantage in the Class 1 commercial EV space.”

ELMS further announced that it is working with RMA and several of their long-term fleet customers and others across several industry verticals to initiate trials of the Urban Delivery vehicle. Customers that are scheduled to participate in testing include a California FedEx Delivery Service Provider, a regional plumbing services company, an east coast-based HVAC systems provider, a major university and a southeast produce distributor. ELMS plans to provide more details on customer testing in the near future.

With the Urban Delivery, ELMS is working to deliver fleets the most reliable and efficient last mile solutions, combining integrated deep data analytics, customization and sustainable engineering.

The ELMS Urban Delivery is anticipated to have approximately 150 miles of range [for commercial vehicles that have a daily duty cycle of usually 40-60 miles] and provide 170 cubic feet of cargo space, which is estimated to be approximately 34% more than the current leading gas model in the Class 1 commercial vehicle segment. The Urban Delivery is also expected to be offered at a net price of $25,000 based upon the presently available U.S. federal tax credit of $7,500, giving it a lower expected total cost of ownership compared to existing gas competitors. ELMS also expects to equip the Urban Delivery with a data and connectivity suite to maximize fleet efficiency and plans to customize vehicles through its integrated upfitting operations and partnerships.

In December 2020, ELMS announced its intention to merge with Forum Merger III Corporation (Nasdaq: FIII). Upon closing of the merger transaction, the combined company will be named Electric Last Mile Solutions, Inc. and the common stock of Electric Last Mile Solutions, Inc. is expected to be listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the new ticker symbol, “ELMS.” The merger is expected to close in the second quarter.

About Electric Last Mile, Inc.

ELMS is focused on redefining the last mile with efficient, connected and customizable solutions. ELMS’ first vehicle, the Urban Delivery, is anticipated to be the first class 1 electric vehicle in the U.S. market. The company is headquartered in Troy, Michigan. For more information, please visit www.electriclastmile.com or Twitter @ELMSolutions.

The partnership announced yesterday with Cox Automotive is big, positive news for FIII / ELMS, eliminating any concern some folks might have had that the ELMS Urban Delivery vans would not have the infrastructure to support maintenance and repairs.

Note, too, that the first vehicles are being promised by end of Q3, not Q4...

If the Cox Automotive Mobility president is affirming the big number of pre-orders for ELMS' delivery van, i'm taking that as extra confirmation they're real. They're only non-binding at this point b/c the merger hasn't completed.

From the PR:

"Cox Automotive Mobility President, Joe George. 'With an aggressive production timeline driven by pre-orders from on-demand service providers, ELMS is establishing itself as an innovative force in sustainable urban mobility'"

SeekingAlpha has a news blurb out on EV sector, as Wedbush analyst sees it.
KEY POINT: if Federal tax credit for EVs does expand from $7.5k up to $10k, according to the Wedbush analyst's surmise, then ELMS' Urban Delivery van will be a "much hotter bargain" for those who need it, even beyond expected lower total cost of ownership (TCO) resulting from much lower fuel costs and maintenance costs. The upfront price would also be lower than the Ford or Chevy gas-powered delivery vans.

From S.Alpha:
"...as President Biden's $2.3T infrastructure plan works its way through Congress, Wedbush Securities ... analyst Dan Ives says to expect an expansion of the tax credits currently valued at $7.5K for EV vehicles to the $10K range or potentially higher in a tiered system. 'Other point-of-sale rebates could also be put into this wide ranging infrastructure bill to catalyze consumers to head down the EV path,' he notes."

Some nice developments with FIII / ELMS:

News announced earlier this week that pre-orders (albeit "non-binding") are up from 30k to 45k.


Now, the first two analyst "Buy" recommends, both out this a.m.:

Colliers Securities initiates coverage on Forum Merger III Corp. with a Buy rating and a price target of $18.00.

Benchmark analyst Michael Ward initiates coverage on Forum Merger III (NASDAQ:FIII) with a Buy rating and announces Price Target of $23.

Forum Merger III initiated with a Buy at Benchmark
Benchmark analyst Michael Ward initiated coverage of Forum Merger III - which is in the process of merging with and bringing public Electric Last Mile Solutions - with a Buy rating and $23 price target. ELMS is "among the best-positioned companies to benefit from the expansion of e-commerce and the electrification of the commercial delivery fleet," argues Ward, who sees several factors that will lead to a faster adoption rate for the commercial fleet than other segments of the vehicle market in the U.S. ELMS's orders and competitive position put the company "on a fast path to $1 billion in revenue," Ward added.

I just posted the following to another message board, but it should be posted here, too:

FIII has really been in a downward trend with the mkt selloff, especially in tech and the EV space (which saw such huge appreciation this past Fall-Winter and now lots of profit-taking).

FIII, as some of us have posted, is a SPAC nearing completion of a merger with ELMS [Electric Last Mile Solutions], an upcoming manufacturer of the Class 1 (up to 6k lb loads) Urban Delivery van, which will produce them in the already EV retro-fitted former GM Hummer plant in Indiana.

After subtracting the $7,500 US govt tax credit, the new delivery van from ELMS will sell for only $25k, matching the cost of all the gasoline-powered vans in that class, and of course the far fewer parts and no fuel-consumption (except for daily recharging) will mean FAR LOWER COSTS for fleet buyers and various small business owners.

The co-founder and CEO of ELMS is a chap named James Taylor, who had a wide variety of senior exec positions with GM (head of Cadillac, Hummer, etc.) and prior EV start-up companies.

There's a new interview with Taylor out today, conducted by the Absolute Return podcast (not the Autoline interview with Taylor from several days ago). It was put out today by FIII on the newswire as a printed transcript. That transcript, unfortunately, appears in very raw form, with obvious mistakes by the voice-transcribing software and no editing whatsoever (e.g., to remove all the "you knows," correct some run-on sentences, inconsistent grammar, etc.).


But check out these three especially important sections from Taylor, wherein he speaks of 1) ELMS' much lower breakeven threshold for profitability compared to other EV makers, and 2) the demand for the upcoming ELMS class 1 Urban Delivery van, and 3) he visualizes a big future for ELMS:

-------------
"...our business model is different than all of the rest of those guys [in the heavier class EV trucks and in the upcoming EV pickup trucks] in the sense of using existing proven platforms and hardware. So, coming off of an existing base [for the chassis etc.] drastically reduces the investment. ... Looking at return on investment [ROI] -- and no shots taken, but Arrival or Lordstown, you know, pick any of them, and you're sort of downstroke of cost center... you know, $700 to $800 million, $2 billion in Rivian space. At some point in time, you have to pay that investment back. [By contrast:] We have a very, very low entry cost in our particular case, we're showing $116 [million] to get into the first models. So, you know, our [...] margin to break even and become cashflow positive is very short and different than the other guys --[entailing] a lower number of units or a lower period of time before we're in a pretty healthy cash position and producing, you know, very large amounts of cash, which should turn into both returns and stock prices."

-------------

"if you guys look at any of the forecasts that are out there for this delivery space, they all have to be understated because nobody saw the increase of going what's on an e-commerce and then therefore the demands on delivery. [... ] Whatever [growth] curves we have in our [slide] deck, whatever [growth] curves you look up from any third parties, they got to be wrong in how crazy e-commerce is going to go and this last mile delivery. So, I think we're in a bulls-eye space in this -- a truly, literally last lift, last mile. The term 'last mile' has got a pretty broad usage. It's become almost a term or a thing versus the last mile literally, and because our vehicles are the small ones and they're almost the shuttles, they truly are the last delivery leg in this long chain of logistics. So that space is so over demanded right now [i.e., there's huge demand] that customers we've talked to, if you had 5,000 thousand tomorrow, [are saying] 'we will take them.' If you have 10,000 thousand, 'I'll take them.' They're hungry to get their hands on, of course, now gas [powered vans], there are no electric [yet], but any hardware they can get their hands on."

---------------------

"[...] Just so you understand the SPAC money isn't guaranteed, right? It's sitting in trust. They [Forum III] still have to go through a vote process to actually, you know, issue that money. So, there could be a swing on whether that $250 [million] in the SPAC all comes our way or only a portion of it. So, let's plan best case: If all of the SPAC money came our way, [because] there were no redemptions. Second part of that is that the money that we've raised outside of that all comes in. Then we definitely have, you know, a pot of money in excess of what we had said we would need to do the plan that we forecasted. So, let's hope that all comes true. And if it does, then we will be able to (A) move some of our product forward, (B) add other variations, other flavors, other models that we didn't originally have in the plan. [Possibility] (C) is M&A and as you've seen in our model there, we have relationships with some upfitting companies, as well as the data companies. And we have also… line of sight or target eyes on some opportunities, say in the M&A space; you know, we could take on other minority or majority share ownerships and bring those closer into us than using say a traditional supplier model. So those are some ideas of what we would use the so-called extra cash for, but that's a good problem, having extra cash."

When is this thing going to do something lol

what is it no price or bad symbol

$ELMS

What’s the ticker on the warrants how do you get them? What’s the action?

Yes, very good. I’m loading up warrants today.

any idea when merger is complete what will symbol be

Stellar write up!

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4396447-electric-last-mile-undervalued-electric-vehicle-spac?fbclid=IwAR2a1Eb0Bnck7_KAveB-LeN0uXB_ruTbqYhzLprLgVsGrOfAs61IReefWq8

Let’s goooo!!!

Got 500 shares here in the AM, not bad at all.

Looks like the ambulance chasers are looking for wrong doing related to merger. Something similar occurred when l was In GWPH SP dropped 70% till they failed to prove anything and price quadrupled.

Lookin' fantastic Halla let's rock \m/

FIII looking great new highs in AH today!

We got this Halla glty buddy \m/

Love it. Loading FIII as well under $11

Oh yeah... Just like C*IC

Let get ready to ROCK \m/

Lookin' for +50 to 70% surge here fyi folks!

Exact same thing for me BaseJumper35 glty!

FIII ready to pop large! Grabbed a starter friday along with some warrants glta

took a starter position and grabbed some warrants and will keep an eye on this one

Take off time

Im holding my position.

breaking news tonight for fiii > they have a target in ev space

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-18/electric-last-mile-said-to-be-in-merger-talks-with-forum-spac

Forum can deliver a range of benefits to our potential merger partner, including:

A flexible funding source through a unique structure that can be tailored to the company’s specific needs
Cash consideration to existing owners at the time of merger
Retained ownership for current shareholders; with the ability to retain significant equity upside and the ability to retain control of the public company post merger
Access to new sources of capital and public currency (listed stock) to fund expansion, make acquisitions or pay down debt
Public valuation without the restrictive, time consuming, costly and uncertain IPO process
Exposure to public investor community via a NASDAQ listing
Operational guidance and support to enhance growth and value creation
Strategic planning and governance as a public company
Access to Forum’s Management Team and Board of Directors’ breadth of expertise


Our team offers:

A team of experienced public market participants who can assist in the transition from private company to public company status
Experience across multiple industries, including Consumer Products, Retail, Distribution, Energy, Financial Services, Industrial, Telecom, Media and Technology
Success building successful companies
Experience sourcing and closing acquisitions
Capital markets execution capabilities
Access to a deep and varied network of senior business leaders and influencers

We intend to focus on companies which have the following characteristics:

$500 million to $2 billion or more in enterprise value
North American based company
Robust outlook for long-term growth
Recurring revenues


What’s important to us:

Strong, driven, experienced management team
A clear understanding of their market and growth strategy
Industries that have strong barriers to entry
Scalable, capital efficient business model
Opportunities for growth, both organically and through acquisition
Sustainable competitive advantage in an attractive industry

Forum Merger III Corporation is a Special Purpose Acquisitions Company (SPAC) that went public for the purpose of merging with a private company, which will benefit from our investment and strategic support, to create substantial value over time.

Forum has raised $250 million in capital and has the ability to raise additional capital through the issuance of equity and debt securities. The capital will be used as part of the merger consideration and as growth capital.

Blank check under $10. Now that FMCI merger with Tattoo Chef is completed. This could be the next one to go. I have 1,000 shares of it long term.