Vietnam electric vehicle (EV) maker VinFast announced on Friday it was aiming to list in the United States in August after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) green-lit its $23 billion merger with a blank-cheque company.
The carmaker had filed for an initial public offering in the US to list on the Nasdaq in December last year, but in May it announced plans to list through a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Black Spade Acquisition.
VinFast and Black Spade aim to complete the merger by August, subject to shareholder approvals and other customary closing conditions, they said in a joint statement on Friday.
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“The declaration of the SEC effectiveness is a significant step towards the successful completion of the business combination between Black Spade and VinFast,” Dennis Tam, Chairman and Co-CEO of Black Spade Acquisition Co said.
Black Spade is set to hold an extraordinary shareholder meeting to approve the proposed business combination with VinFast on August 10, the joint statement said.
VinFast and Black Spade have estimated the new merged entity will have a potential equity value of $23 billion, according to their statement.
Analysts say, however, the price tag is not realistic given that VinFast continues to burn cash and is in very early stages of growing its business in the US.
The EV-maker, which began operations in 2019, has shipped around 3,000 EVs to the US and started to deliver them from March.
The listing is part of VinFast’s efforts to expand in the US, along-with a $4 billion car plant in North Carolina, the construction of which it began on Friday.
The EV maker’s statements have not mentioned any institutional investors to invest alongside the SPAC deal through a private investment in public equity transaction.
SPACs are seen as a quick route to a stock market listing particularly for auto technology firms. They have proved popular with investors seeking lofty tech stock valuations, but the valuation of merged firms can often fall in the months after listing.
VinFast’s move to list via a SPAC follows the likes of EV companies Faraday Future, Nikola and Lucid, despite a cooling in the once frenzied SPAC market, which has come under closer SEC scrutiny.
- Reuters, with additional editing by Vishakha Saxena
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