VinFast To Move Legal And Finance HQ To Singapore

VinFast moves its legal and financial headquarters to Singapore in preparation for the company's arrival on to the big stage.

Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast has announced that it will move its legal and financial headquarters to Singapore in preparation for a public listing on the New York Stock Exchange and the first production of the vehicle for the U.S. and European markets.

VinFast NYSE Listing

As reported by Reuters, the budding Vietnamese company, which will start building its VF8 electric SUV next week, its own E.V. batteries, and begin construction of its $4 billion assembly plant in the U.S. later this year, said that "Singapore is a jurisdiction that will give investors more confidence."

Its CEO, Le Thi Thu Thuy said she planned to spend more time in Singapore, where VinFast is buying a building, turning its holding company into an operating hub that would include an office and housing for staff and executives.

EV expansion is independent of IPO

Thuy however, declined to comment on the IPO when asked but said the company's EV expansion plans do not depend on the listing. "Like any large company, we always consider all possible financing transactions," Thuy said.

Vingroup Chairman Pham Nhat Vuong said earlier this month that VinFast had filed an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States through its Singapore-based holding company, but market conditions may push the deal into 2023.

VinFast was founded in 2017 to produce vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE), but in January 2021, the automaker announced that it would stop producing ICE vehicles by the end of 2022 and instead focus on the development of all-electric vehicles.

VF8 and VF9 EV nearly ready for the big stage

According to Thuy, VinFast's overseas expansion plans will start with the VF8, a medium-sized electric crossover powered by a 90 kWh battery, capable of covering a distance of about 500 km on a single charge.

The first VF8 model will use batteries from South Korea's Samsung SDI, but VinFast has developed its own batteries as protection against future shortages. The automaker will begin battery production in August and expects to produce about 3,000 vehicles with its own batteries by the end of the year.

Alongside its VF8, Vinfast has also been developing the larger VF9, though that was delayed by about a month because of the impact of COVID-19 containment measures in Shanghai on suppliers, Thuy said.

"We will deliver cars to the international market by the end of the year. All of our efforts are on the start of production for the VF8," Thuy said to Reuters.

VinFast is particularly betting on the U.S. market, where it hopes to sell the two SUVs with prices from about $41,000 with a battery leasing plan. It aims to open its first showrooms in California by early July, including a flagship site in Santa Monica, Thuy said.