By Phuong Nguyen and Francesco Guarascio
HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam’s electric vehicle maker VinFast could open higher on Nasdaq on Tuesday, based on limited premarket trade, as it makes its debut after a SPAC deal that the company says values it at $23 billion.
The valuation, which VinFast and its blank-check partner Black Spade Acquisition calculated using rival EV maker Lucid as the benchmark, is the fourth-highest for such special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deals, according to data from Dealogic.
A few hours before its Nasdaq debut, VinFast more than doubled its value in premarket trading involving less than 4% of its shares.
Several other EV makers have also listed via such SPAC deals, which have attracted increased scrutiny from both investors and regulators, especially as competition in the EV market heats up and China’s auto market, the world’s largest, is locked in a price war.
Some of VinFast’s rivals, including Nikola Corp and Lucid, have seen their valuations plunge after their SPAC listings. Nikola now commands a market value of $1.4 billion, versus $13.9 billion before listing while Lucid has a current market value of $15.5 billion, versus $24 billion during its 2021 SPAC deal.
Shares in other rivals which did not list via SPACs, including Tesla Inc and Rivian Automotive Inc, have performed better. Tesla shares are up 94.6 percent so far this year while Rivian is up almost 17 percent higher.
VinFast is a unit of Vietnam’s largest conglomerate Vingroup.
It is still unclear how many of the company shares will trade on Tuesday and at what price.
VinFast’s founder, Vietnam’s richest man Pham Nhat Vuong, pledged $2.5 billion in April to bolster the EV maker, including $1 billion from his personal fortune. He is the beneficial owner of 99% of the ordinary shares of the EV maker after the merger.
VinFast plans to build a $4 billion plant in North Carolina and boost car shipments from its factory in Vietnam to the United States, its main target market overseas.
VinFast has shipped nearly 3,000 units to the U.S. and started delivering them from March. The company has not disclosed its sales but according to S&P Global Mobility, it sold only 137 vehicles there through June.
Earlier this year, VinFast ditched a $2 billion ordinary listing for the SPAC merger.
Investors in Black Spade Acquisition cashed out over 80% of their shares after the deal with VinFast, leaving only about $14 million in the company’s trust, according to a public filing.
(Reporting by Phuong Nguyen, Yantoultra Ngui and Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat; editing by Francesco Guarascio and Miral Fahmy)
