Vietnamese EV maker VinFast files for US IPO

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Vietnamese EV maker VinFast files for US IPO

The electric carmaker backed by Vietnam's richest man, Bloomberg has filed for an initial public offering in the US just as it prepares to deliver its first SUVs to California customers later this month.

The unit of Vingroup JSC, founded by Pham Nhat Vuong, is advised by banks including JPMorgan Chase Co., Citigroup Inc., Credit Suisse Group AG and Morgan Stanley, according to an F- 1 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The shares will be traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the VFS symbol. There was no details on the size of the fundraising or a possible listing date.

VinFast's IPO plans have been percolating for almost two years. In early 2021, Bloomberg News first reported that Vingroup was considering a $2 billion US IPO for the EV maker. The company filed for the share sale in April. According to Bloomberg earlier in the day, VinFast could raise $1 billion from an offering as soon as January.

VinFast will sell and list shares on Nasdaq if market conditions permit, said Le Thi Thu Thuy, CEO of VinFast.

She said that we understand that our company valuation and size of our IPO will be subject to market conditions. Once VinFast has successfully ranked in the US, this will allow future access to the capital markets for the company, and further support VinFast's global expansion. Thuy said that VinFast will continue to monitor opportunities for future fundraising.

The IPO could be the biggest by a Vietnamese company since Vinhomes JSC's $1.4 billion domestic debut share sale in 2018 according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The benchmark VN Index is still 30% lower this year because of a strong 24% rally since November, making it one of the worst performing equity gauges in the world.

VinFast reported 8,779. According to the filing, 7 billion dong $365.3 million were sold of vehicles for the nine months ended September 30, the year's highest level since September 30, according to the filing. The company had 1,854. For the same period, there were 6 billion dong in cash and cash equivalents.

The filing comes after the company loaded 999 electric vehicles onto a VinFast branded cargo ship destined for Los Angeles on November 25. The five-year old company said it will deliver vehicles to its first US customers later this month, beginning the immense challenge of taking on the world's top auto brands.

The automaker s efforts to become a global brand include the recent ground breaking of a North Carolina factory, where it expects to start production in July 2024. The banks signed agreements with banks in July to raise $4 billion for its US expansion. The company said in late November that it needs to delay EV rollouts in Europe and Canada until early 2023 due to the global shortage of semiconductors.

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