VinFast says its signed banks to raise US$4b for US plant

VIETNAMESE electric-vehicle (EV) maker VinFast said it has signed agreements with banks to raise at least US$4 billion globally to fund its planned North Carolina EV factory and US rollout, according to a statement.

Credit Suisse Group will help arrange the issuance of offshore securities to raise around US$2 billion, while Citigroup Global Markets will act as an adviser on transactions with a minimum value of around the same amount related to the development of VinFast's US factory, the statement from VinFast parent Vingroup said.

Any transactions may include debt or the private placements of equity, according to the statement, which didn't go into further detail.

VinFast is on track to start production of electric cars in the US by 2024, chief executive officer Le Thi Thu Thuy said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in June. Construction of the North Carolina plant may start in September.

The upstart EV maker, little known outside Vietnam, has ambitions to deliver as many as 1 million cars globally within 5 to 6 years, a goal Thuy reiterated last month was "achievable".

The target would seem ambitious compared with other, more established automakers.

SEE ALSO

South-east Asia’s nascent electric vehicle ecosystem presents investment opportunities and challenges

VinFast parts ways with 4 top executives as it readies expansion

Vietnam EV maker VinFast to shift HQ to Singapore ahead of IPO, first exports

DECODING ASIA

Navigate Asia in
a new global order

Get the insights delivered to your inbox.

Chinese EV startup Nio only celebrated its 100,000th vehicle off the production line in April 2021 after almost 3 years, while Goldman Sachs Group earlier this month lowered its 2022 output estimate for Tesla, the world's biggest maker of electric cars, to 1.4 million units.

VinFast's factory complex will be located in the Triangle Innovation Point industrial park in Chatham County, North Carolina, and include manufacturing facilities for EVs, clean buses and batteries, according to the statement. The first phase of the facility is expected to have a production capacity of 150,000 electric vehicles a year, it said. BLOOMBERG