HANOI — Vietnamese electrical car maker VinFast mentioned it expects to start out buying and selling on the U.S. Nasdaq as quickly as subsequent week after its merger right into a particular buy acquisition firm (SPAC) was permitted on Thursday.
Shareholders of Hong Kong-based Black Spade Acquisition, a blank-check firm, voted on Thursday to approve the merger with VinFast.
VinFast, in a joint assertion with Black Spade, mentioned it will listing on the Nasdaq beneath the ticker image VFS “on or round August 15”.
Remaining shareholders of Black Spade permitted the merger on Thursday. In July, over 80% of the shareholders within the SPAC had opted to redeem their shares earlier than the merger.
The SPAC merger is not going to elevate new capital for VinFast however the firm’s founder Pham Nhat Vuong has championed a U.S. itemizing because the carmaker seeks to increase within the U.S. market and is constructing a plant in North Carolina.
The merger had valued VinFast at $23 billion, the 2 firms mentioned. As compared, the present market capitalisation of U.S.-listed EV makers Rivian and Lucid are $21 billion and round $17 billion respectively.
It leaves VinFast’s current shareholders, together with guardian firm Vingroup and Vuong, Vietnam’s richest man, with 99% of shares within the firm.
“The voting outcomes right now are a vote of confidence in VinFast from Black Spade shareholders,” VinFast’s international head Thuy Le mentioned within the assertion.
VinFast had filed for an preliminary public providing on the Nasdaq final December, however in Might introduced plans to listing by a merger with Black Spade.
Different EV makers together with Faraday Future, Nikola Corp and Lucid have listed by way of SPAC offers however the marketplace for such offers has confronted elevated scrutiny from traders and regulators.
VinFast has shipped round 3,000 EVs to the US from its plant in Haiphong, Vietnam. It began to ship its first VF8 EVs in March. It has not introduced U.S. gross sales figures.
VinFast’s first quarter income dropped 49% from the earlier yr and it posted a internet lack of $598 million. In 2022, the corporate posted a lack of $2.1 billion. It has not but made a revenue.
Vuong, who can also be chairman of Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest conglomerate, advised Vingroup shareholders in Might that VinFast anticipated to promote as many as 50,000 EVs this yr and will break at the same time as quickly as the top of 2024.
The corporate has beforehand missed a few of its inside supply targets and faces competitors from established rivals led by Tesla, which have been driving down costs and bringing a variety of latest EVs to market.
Black Spade was based by the non-public funding arm of Lawrence Ho, son of the late playing mogul Stanley Ho.