Special Acquisitions Company, Black Spade Acquisition Co (NYSE:BSAQ) voted Thursday to merge with electric automaker, VinFast, allowing the Vietnamese company to list on the Nasdaq platform in the US.
In a joint statement with Black Spade, the automaker revealed that it would list on the Nasdaq and begin trading under the ticker symbol VFS "on or around August 15".
Vingroup's shares on the Vietnam stock market experienced a nearly 7% increase on Friday, reaching 72,600 dong ($3.06) per share, marking a one-year peak. Meanwhile, the New York-listed shares of Black Spade surged by an impressive 73% to $18.50 on Thursday.
While the SPAC merger itself will not generate additional capital for VinFast, the company's founder, Pham Nhat Vuong, has been a strong advocate for a U.S. listing. This move aligns with VinFast's strategic goals, as the automaker aims to enhance its presence in the U.S. market and is concurrently in the process of constructing a manufacturing facility in North Carolina.
VinFast had filed for an initial public offering last December. However, a shift in strategy occurred in May when the company revealed its intentions to go public by merging with Black Spade.
Similar to VinFast, several other electric vehicle manufacturers, such as Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc (NASDAQ:FFIE), Nikola Corp (NASDAQ:NKLA), and Lucid Group Inc (NASDAQ:LCID), have opted for special purpose acquisition arrangements for their listings. However, the SPAC market has more recently come under heightened scrutiny from both investors and regulatory bodies.
Shares of BSAQ are down 18.27% in afternoon trading Friday.