VinFast is gearing up to go public in the United States through a local merger with special purpose acquisition company Black Spade Acquisition Co. The Vietnamese car manufacturer is hoping for a listing in August.
The merger will give VinFast an enterprise value of $27 billion and an equity value of $23 billion. VinFast no doubt hopes that a U.S. listing will help it raise billions of dollars that will be needed to expand its range of electric vehicles both in the U.S. and around the world.
“Today represents a remarkable milestone in advancing VinFast’s presence in the U.S. as we move towards our proposed U.S. listing,” VinFast global chief executive Madame Thuy Le said. “Along with this exciting step, today we also celebrate the start of construction of our electric vehicle (EV) factory in North Carolina. These achievements will help accelerate our commitment to the global green mobility revolution and our mission to help consumers make the switch to an EV easier and more accessible, while also opening a strategic capital-raising avenue for our global ambitions.”
VinFast has a long way to come if it wants to establish itself as a serious player. Recent regulatory filings made in the U.S. revealed that it lost $559 million in the first quarter of 2023 and that since the automaker’s formation in 2017, parent company Vingroup JSC, affiliates, and external lenders have spent around $9.3 billion on the company. Nevertheless, chairman and co-chief executive of Black Spade Acquisition Co, Dennis Tam, believes VinFast will prove to be a trailblazer in the EV industry.
Read: VinFast To Start Building U.S. Factory Next Week, But Will Anyone Want The EVs It’ll Make?
“We have diligently sought out a partner that aligns with our vision, and we are confident that this merger will position us for long-term success,” Tam said. “We anticipate that the global lifestyle paradigm shift towards electric mobility will accelerate further and that VinFast will continue to distinguish itself as a trailblazer in the global EV arena. We are delighted to collaborate with the entire VinFast leadership team as they bring their highly anticipated full range EV models to the global market, instigating a significant transformation in the EV landscape.”
