Shares of Vingroup JSC jumped after announcing its electric vehicle maker unit will list in the US by merging with a blank-check company at an equity value of about $23 billion.
Vingroup rose as much as 6.2% Monday in Ho Chi Minh, the biggest gain since April 3. The stock contributed the most to Vietnam’s benchmark VN Index, which climbed as much as 0.9% to outperform most gauges in Asia.
At that value, EV manufacturer Vinfast is set to mark a record US listing by a company from Vietnam. Including debt, the unit will be valued at around $27 billion, according to a statement by the parent released on May 12. The merger with Black Spade Acquisition Co., a Hong Kong-based firm, is expected to close in the second half of the year.
The listing could unlock value for Vinfast’s shareholders, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Ken Foong and Siti Nur Fairuz Khalil. Still, the implied enterprise value makes the company more expensive than “most peers such as Rivian, Nikola, Nio and BYD,” they wrote in a note.
Bloomberg News first reported in 2021 that Vingroup was considering a $2 billion US initial public offering for the EV unit. Vingroup’s founder Pham Nhat Vuong, 54, is Vietnam’s richest person, with a $3.9 billion net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
--With assistance from Nguyen Kieu Giang.
