Vietnamese EV maker VinFast files for IPO in the US

Vietnamese EV maker VinFast is looking to raise some money on the US stock market, thus filing for an initial public offering (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

VinFast is a unit of Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, and it's the biggest car maker in Vietnam. The company says it hasn't yet decided on the size of the IPO for the US, but Bloomberg News estimates that the share sale could raise about $2 billion.

That would make it the biggest ever IPO by a Vietnamese company in the US, but that's not a high bar as only a handful of such companies are even listed in the US.

Before the IPO, VinFast is also exploring a different funding round to raise $500 million to $1 billion.

The company plans to open an EV factory in North Carolina, which should become operational in 2024. The plant is the first phase in a planned US expansion that will total investments of up to $6 billion. US President Joe Biden called the North Carolina factory alone a $4 billion investment that would create more than 7,000 jobs.

VinFast wants to start delivering cars in the US, Canada, France, Germany, and the Netherlands in late 2022, with prices for its VF8 and VF9 electric SUVs ranging from $41,000 to $61,000. It began deliveries of its first EVs in Vietnam in December, and is looking to expand internationally very quickly.

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