Nikola to Buy Battery Maker Romeo Power for $144 Million

Electric-truck startup Nikola said it has agreed to buy battery-technology company Romeo Power in an all-stock deal that values Romeo at roughly $144 million.

Nikola said the deal would give it control over the battery-pack engineering and production processes, a critical bottleneck for electric-car makers. Romeo, which supplies batteries for Nikola’s vehicles, had earlier warned of its ability to stay afloat.