VINFAST, an electric vehicle (EV) maker founded by Vietnam’s richest person, is going public through a merger with blank-cheque company Black Spade Acquisition in what would be the largest-ever US listing by a company from the South-east Asian country.

The deal will give VinFast an equity value of about US$23 billion, according to a statement from the parent company Vingroup on Friday (May 12). Including debt, the EV maker will be valued at around US$27 billion. VinFast shareholders will own approximately 99 per cent of the combined entity after the transaction, which is expected to close in the second half of this year, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals.

Shares of Black Spade jumped as much as 12 per cent in pre-market trading.

VinFast would join a trickle of Asian companies seeking to list in the US through mergers with special purpose acquisition companies (SPAC) even as similar transactions have slowed amid tighter regulatory oversight and lukewarm market sentiment. Smart-car tech startup Ecarx Holdings went public in the US in December after completing its merger with a blank-cheque company, while Singaporean TV licencing firm Allrites Holdings this week inked a merger deal with blank cheque firm Aura FAT Projects Acquisition.

VinFast will also look to break the mould of EV manufacturers struggling after SPAC mergers. Companies that have nearly wiped out shareholders since they combined with blank-cheque firms the last few years include Nikola, Lordstown Motors and Canoo. One EV hopeful – Electric Last Mile Solutions – filed for bankruptcy almost a year ago.

A SPAC merger, if successful, will cap VinFast’s years-long efforts to become a publicly-traded company. Bloomberg News first reported in early 2021 that Vingroup was considering a US$2 billion US initial public offering for the EV unit. The company in April 2022 filed confidentially for the share sale.

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The move comes as VinFast steps up its efforts to expand into markets beyond its home country. The EV maker, which plans to build a factory in North Carolina, shipped its second batch of electric cars to North America in April with plans to start delivering to customers in US this month. It also plans to send its first vehicles to Europe in July.

“The partnership with Black Spade and listing of VinFast in the US represents the perfect capital raising avenue for our future global ambitions and is also an important accomplishment for Vingroup,” VinFast chief executive officer Le Thi Thu Thuy said in the statement.

Global expansion

Vingroup’s founder Pham Nhat Vuong, 54, is the country’s richest person, with a US$3.9 billion net worth, according to the Bloomberg billionaires Index. He started his own business while studying in Moscow and has said he left Russia with US$40,000 in debt. He began a dried-foods company in Ukraine in the early ‘90s that sold instant noodles and mashed potatoes and sold it to Nestle for an undisclosed amount in 2010.

Soon after starting VinFast in 2017, Vuong spoke openly about his ambition to sell cars in the US and personally committed as much as US$2 billion to the carmaker. The billionaire last month said he will give another US$1 billion to the EV maker within the next year. Vingroup will chip in US$500 million and provide a loan of US$1 billion for up to five years.

VinFast officially launched three car models and three e-scooters in Vietnam in 2019, according to its website. In 2021, it launched the first batch of EVs and started pre-orders globally for them last year.

Black Spade Acquisition raised US$169 million in an US IPO in 2021. The Hong Kong-based blank cheque firm has said it aims to identify a business combination target related to or in the entertainment industry, with a focus on enabling technology, lifestyle brands, products or services, and entertainment media, its website shows. Its sponsor Black Spade Capital is the private investment arm of Lawrence Ho, the chairman and chief executive officer of casino operator Melco International Development. BLOOMBERG