HANOI, Might 12 (Reuters) – Vietnamese electrical automaker VinFast stated on Friday it can checklist in america by way of a merger with particular objective acquisition firm (SPAC) Black Spade Acquisition Co (BSAQ.N).
The transfer comes after the startup final month stated it had obtained a contemporary spherical of funding pledges price $2.5 billion from guardian firm Vingroup (VIC.HM), Vietnam’s largest conglomerate, and founder Pham Nhat Vuong, Vietnam’s first billionaire and richest man.
After the merger, the brand new entity can have an enterprise worth of roughly $27 billion and an fairness worth of $23 billion, “assuming no BSAQ shareholders elect to have their Black Spade shares redeemed for money as permitted,” VinFast and Black Spade stated in a joint assertion.
The transaction is predicted to shut within the second half of 2023, it stated, including present shareholders of VinFast will maintain roughly 99% of the shares of the mixed firm.
VinFast, which was based in 2017 and started promoting EVs in California this yr, beforehand filed for an preliminary public providing within the U.S. to checklist on the Nasdaq beneath ticker image “VFS” in December final yr, aiming for a valuation of about $60 billion.
The corporate has stated it has nearly 55,000 orders globally and is ready to churn out 300,000 EVs per yr.
Black Spade Acquisition is a Hong Kong-based SPAC which listed on the NYSE in July 2021 with a plan to merge, inside two years, with an organization ideally within the leisure enterprise, in keeping with its web site.
It was based by Black Spade Capital Restricted, the non-public funding arm of Lawrence Ho, the top of Melco Resorts & Leisure Ltd , which operates casinos in Macau and the Philippines, in keeping with the corporate’s web site and Refinitiv.
“The partnership with Black Spade and itemizing of VinFast within the U.S. represents the right capital elevating avenue for our future international ambitions,” Thuy Le, VinFast’s international chief govt, stated.
VinFast’s transfer to checklist by way of a particular objective acquisition firm follows the likes of EV corporations Microvast , Faraday Future (FFIE.O), Nikola Corp (NKLA.O) and Lucid (LCID.O), regardless of a cooling within the as soon as frenzied SPAC market, which has been subjected to nearer scrutiny by the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee.
SPACs are seen as a fast path to the inventory market, significantly for auto know-how companies, and have confirmed standard with traders looking for Tesla-like (TSLA.O) inventory valuations – though the valuation of merged companies typically falls within the months after itemizing.
(This story has been corrected to say $60 billion was the valuation VinFast aimed for, not the quantity it aimed to boost, in paragraph 5)
Reporting by Phuong Nguyen; Modifying by Toby Chopra
: .