Electric-vehicle maker VinFast has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) to fund a manufacturing plant in North Carolina with a projected capacity of 150,000 EVs a year.
The IPO will list the Vietnamese company on Nasdaq under ticker symbol "VFS.” The company aims for an IPO in the fourth quarter of this year, but market uncertainty may delay that.
"VinFast intends to conduct an IPO after the SEC declares the registration statement effective, market conditions permitting," Thuy said in a statement. He noted the company aims to list VinFast on a U.S. stock exchange.
The three-year-old automaker is getting ready to expand in the U.S. market, where it hopes to compete with legacy automakers and startups with its all-electric SUVs, the VF8 and VF9. The company is
For the IPO, the automaker will convert to a Singapore public limited company and will be known as VinFast Auto Ltd. The company has not yet determined the number of shares it will offer or the price range for those shares.
"Valuation or the size of our IPO will be subject, in part, to market conditions," VinFast Chief Executive Le Thi Thu Thuy said in a statement.
The company had said the IPO was just one option to raise funds. The startup also partnered with banks to fund at least $4 billion of its expansion plans.
"VinFast will continue to monitor opportunities for future fundraisers, as the market becomes more familiar with the VinFast brand and story," she said.
The filing reports that Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan lead a nine-bank syndicate behind the deal. If the IPO is approved, VinFast will be Vietnam's first company to list in the United States.
EV startup market valuations are not as dramatic as a year ago after the sky-high valuations of some startups faced scrutiny. The S&P U.S. & China Electric Vehicle Index, which EV company performance, has lost 33.51% since the January.
VinFast shipped its 999 vehicles to the U.S. in late November. The automaker reports almost 65,000 orders globally and expects to sell 750,000 EVs annually by 2026.
Shares in VinFast's listed parent company, Vingroup, rose 5.11% following the IPO announcement.
