VinFast to expand into South-east Asia, raise more capital
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The Vietnamese electric vehicle maker plans to aggressively move into South-east Asian markets, starting with Indonesia.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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HANOI - Vietnamese electric vehicle (EV) maker VinFast Auto plans to move aggressively into South-east Asian markets, starting with Indonesia, and expects to eventually raise “a lot of capital” to fuel its global expansion plans, according to chief executive officer Le Thi Thu Thuy.
The company expects to meet its target in 2023 of selling 45,000 to 50,000 vehicles, she said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
VinFast delivered 10,027 cars and 28,220 electric scooters in the third quarter, according to an exchange filing.
The firm has said it sold 7,100 vehicles to GSM Green and Smart Mobility Joint Stock Company, a Vietnamese taxi company in which founder Pham Nhat Vuong holds a 95 per cent stake.
South-east Asia has a lot of potential with governments looking to boost EV adoption with aggressive targets, Ms Thuy said.
“We intend to move into Asean aggressively, starting with Indonesia,” she said.
VinFast will look to raise “a lot of capital” in the future for development and expansion plans, Ms Thuy said.
But the firm will rely on support from parent company Vingroup JSC and Mr Vuong in the next 18 months, she added.
The company is constructing a US$2 billion (S$2.7 billion) manufacturing complex in North Carolina and is planning factories in Indonesia and India.
The automaker, which reported a wider loss in the third quarter, is on track to break even and reach profitability, Ms Thuy said. Mr Vuong said in May that the electric vehicle maker could be profitable after 2025 if operations are “smooth”, and break even by the end of 2024.
VinFast went public in the United States in August by merging with blank-cheque company Black Spade Acquisition. The company will release as many as 76 million shares to the market, though a portion will face trading limits, Ms Thuy said.
VinFast is “working on a lot of transactions” to increase its investor base, she said.
Mr Vuong does not directly hold any stake in VinFast, but as at Sept 21, Vingroup owned 50.8 per cent of VinFast; Vietnam Investment Group, or VIG, held 32.9 per cent of the company; and Asian Star Trading and Investment had a 12.9 per cent stake, according to an exchange filing. Each of these shareholders is majority owned by Mr Vuong.
VIG and Asian Star Trading and Investment expect to sell 46 million VinFast shares, according to a previous company statement.
Proceeds from the sale will be used to fund VinFast’s expansion plans, it said. BLOOMBERG
