Vietnam's largest privately-run conglomerate Vingroup announced that its automobile subsidiary VinFast has secured a 12-year credit facility worth US$950 million to import machinery and equipment from German suppliers.
The signing ceremony. Source: Vingroup.
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Le Hoai Anh, managing director of Investment Banking and Capital Markets Asia-Pacific at Credit Suisse, said the deal would support VinFast in its quest to become a global car manufacturer.
Meanwhile, Pham Hong Hai, CEO of HSBC Vietnam considered this a breakthrough in the process of producing the first Vietnamese car.
In July, VinFast has completed syndication of a US$400 million term loan facility led by four international banks.
The company, which aims to become Vietnam's first domestic car manufacturer, plans to have its first production models built under its own badge hit the streets next August. Vingroup has earmarked about US$3.5 billion for the project.
From a standing start, VinFast will have the capacity to produce 250,000 cars annually in the next five years or so, equivalent to 92% of all the cars sold in Vietnam last year, according to data collated by the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association (VAMA).
VinFast caught the worldwide attention when the company presented its first two models of LUX A2.0 and LUX SA2.0 at the Paris Motor Show on October 2 with the appearance of ex-football player David Beckham.
