NEW YORK & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arrival Group, the global technology company creating electric vehicles with its game-changing technologies, announced today that it expects to appoint five initial members to its Board of Directors, upon the consummation of the pending business combination between Arrival Group, Arrival S.à r.l, and CIIG Merger Corp. (NASDAQ: CIIC), a U.S. publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company. Arrival Group, the combined company, will become a publicly listed company and its ordinary shares will be listed on NASDAQ under the new ticker symbol “ARVL”, upon consummation of the business combination.

Founded in 2015, Arrival is producing best-in-class commercial electric vehicles using a new method of design and production. This new method takes Arrival’s strong intellectual property portfolio of in-house developed technologies and scalable platforms and combines them with its pioneering and rapidly scalable Microfactory assembly process. We believe this approach enables the creation of many different electric vehicle types including light commercial vans and large buses, that provide maximum functionality, an elevated experience and significantly lower prices than other EVs.

Arrival Group’s initial global Board of Directors is expected to include:

• Peter Cuneo, who will become the Non-Executive Chairman of Arrival Group’s Board, serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of CIIG; Peter was the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Marvel Entertainment Inc.
• Avinash Rugoobur, current President and Chief Strategy Officer for Arrival; Avinash formerly served as Head of Strategy and mergers and acquisitions for General Motors Cruise and led advanced technology activities for General Motors in Silicon Valley
• Jae Oh, current Vice President and Head of Corporate Development at Hyundai Motor Group; Jae leads a broad spectrum of strategic investment activities for Hyundai ranging from Series A to mergers and acquisitions
• Kristen O’Hara, current Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer of Hearst Magazines; Kristen formerly served as Chief Marketing Officer, Global Media for Time Warner Inc. (now Warner Media, LLC). Kristen currently serves as a Director of CIIG
• Alain Kinsch, who until his retirement in 2020, served as Ernst & Young S.A.’s Luxembourg Country Managing Partner and EMEIA Private Equity Fund Leader for over a decade
• Two additional nominees to be named later

“We are at a pivotal moment in Arrival’s journey, as we focus on execution. These board members will bring an extensive wealth of knowledge and invaluable varied business experience to Arrival Group as we scale up production and expand our global reach over the coming years,” said Denis Sverdlov, founder and CEO of Arrival. “The strength and diversity of the board members’ backgrounds reflects the scope of Arrival’s vision. Their guidance will be extremely valuable as the company accelerates the move to zero-emission transportation ecosystems for communities around the world.”

Commenting on the board, Peter Cuneo stated, “From the outset, I have been impressed by Arrival’s entirely different approach to the design and production of transportation and their insistence that a better system and model exists for the EV market. Their diligence has enabled Arrival to be a powerfully effective organization, setting a high standard for commercial EVs and the path to production. In our effort to assemble a world-class Board of Directors, Arrival Group has found an international group of business leaders, passionate to help guide the company and allow senior management to leverage their extensive experience as they capitalize on the opportunity ahead and transform the mobility market.”

Arrival Group will announce two additional members for its global Board of Directors and its committee leadership at a later date.

About Arrival

Arrival is reinventing the automotive industry with its entirely new approach to the design and assembly of electric vehicles. Low CapEx, rapidly scalable Microfactories combined with proprietary in-house developed components, materials and software, enable the production of best in class vehicles competitively priced to fossil fuel variants and with a substantially lower total cost of ownership. This transformative approach provides cities globally with the solutions they need to create sustainable urban environments and exceptional experiences for their citizens. Arrival was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in the United Kingdom, with over 1,400 global employees located in offices across the United States, Germany, Netherlands, Israel, Russia, and Luxembourg. The company is deploying its first two microfactories in South Carolina, US and Bicester, UK in 2021.

About CIIG

CIIG Merger Corp. (NASDAQ: CIIC) is a Delaware special purpose acquisition company founded by Peter Cuneo, Gavin Cuneo and Michael Minnick for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. CIIG’s units, Class A common stock and warrants trade on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbols "CIICU," "CIIC," and "CIICW" respectively.