VinFast Auto, the electric vehicle manufacturing unit of Vietnam's Vingroup, filed on Tuesday with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering. However, this is likely a placeholder for a deal we estimate could raise $1 billion.
Today's initial filing would allow the company to list on the Nasdaq in January 2023. VinFast is expected to be the first US IPO from a Vietnam-based company in Renaissance Capital's 31-year history; this excludes 2021 micro-cap IPO SOPA, which called itself the first, but maintained its headquarters in the US. VinFast should also be the largest IPO of any Vietnamese company since 2018, when Vingroup listed its property unit Vinhomes on the country's domestic exchange.
Formed as a spin-off of Vietnam's largest conglomerate, VinFast Auto is a full-scale mobility platform primarily engaged in designing and manufacturing EVs. Since commencing production of e-scooters in 2018, the company has since expanded to produce passenger cars and e-buses. As of 9/30/22, the company had delivered 88,000 vehicles, most of which were internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, in addition to 145,000 e-scooters. VinFast Auto has since phased out its ICE vehicle products in 2022 in order to focus on delivering its e-vehicle lineup.
The Hai Phong, Vietnam-based company was founded in 2017 and booked $640 million in revenue for the 12 months ended September 30, 2022. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol VFS. Citi, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, BNP Paribas, HSBC, RBC Capital Markets, Wolfe Research Securities, and Nomura Securities are the joint bookrunners on the deal. No pricing terms were disclosed.
