Vietnam tech company VNG withdraws US IPO filing

VIETNAMESE Internet company VNG has withdrawn its initial public offering (IPO) registration in the United States, a statement filed to the US Securities and Exchange Commission dated Jan 19 shows.

Ho Chi Minh City-headquartered VNG said that it “has determined not to conduct a registered offering at this time and intends to file a new registration statement in the future”.

VNG did not disclose its reason for withdrawing not any timeframe for a future registration.

A source familiar with the matter said the company could not meet some certain deadlines for the registration and hence withdrew, but would continue to explore the listing opportunity.

VNG declined to comment.

VNG in September had delayed its plan to list in the US, in an IPO that could have raised US$150 million, due to volatile market conditions, Reuters reported at that time citing a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

Founded in 2004, VNG was Vietnam’s first unicorn – a startup valued at US$1 billion or more.

Its businesses include online games, payments, cloud services and Vietnam’s most popular messaging app, Zalo.

An IPO would have made it the first Vietnamese technology company to list in the US.

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VNG’s shares on Vietnam’s Unlisted Public Company Market or Upcom ended on Tuesday (Jan 23) down 2.5 per cent. REUTERS