HANOI (Bloomberg): Vietnam’s largest carmaker VinFast Auto Ltd. has secured a US$150 million loan from Barclays Plc, as it advances expansion efforts to compete in the global electric vehicle market.
Work on the three-year loan, obtained by the firm’s Singapore unit VinFast Auto Pte., is nearly complete, according to a spokesperson. The loan will be used to support the company’s working capital needs, the spokesperson said.
Despite stiff Chinese competition and other challenges in the EV market, VinFast Auto - part of Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup JSC - has been actively tapping the loan market while increasingly looking to grow abroad.
The company rolled out its first electric vehicles in India this month, entering the world’s third-largest auto market to take on competition from Tesla Inc., Tata Motors Ltd. and others.
VinFast also will soon announce a $200 million loan from Indian state-owned banks, chairwoman Le Thi Thu Thuy said last week, an effort that Bloomberg News reported in May. It also borrowed $510 million in a private credit loan in July and secured a 1.84 trillion rupiah ($112 million) syndicated facility in April for a factory project in Indonesia.
As part of its global push, the company is prioritizing Asia over North America and Europe, founder Pham Nhat Vuong told shareholders earlier this year.
Alongside its new model launch in India, the company opened its first overseas factory last month in the state of Tamil Nadu, with an initial production capacity of 50,000 vehicles a year. It expects to open an Indonesia plant by October.
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