Energy solutions major Gotion holds 15 mln of VinFast shares

Gotion Inc., an energy solutions company aiming at creating the next generation of battery technology, owns 15 million VFS shares of Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

VinFast started trading on the Nasdaq in the U.S. on Tuesday, August 15 at $10 in par value. The price was also the level Gotion had registered to hold the 15 million VFS shares, the June 30 filing shows. The transaction will complete when regulatory approval finishes.

VinFast has 2.3 billion ordinary shares after the merger with SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) partner Black Spade Acquisition. The business combination, which completed on August 14, U.S. time, valued VinFast at approximately $23 billion, according to another June filing with the SEC.

Shares of VinFast dropped for a third straight session to $15.4 per share on Friday, from $20 on Thursday, $30.11 on Wednesday and $37.06 in the stock's Nasdaq debut.

Gotion’s headquarters for its global operations is in Silicon Valley, Fremont, California, its website shows. It operates other offices in the U.S., Japan, Singapore, China, and Germany. Its China subsidiary Gotion High-Tech is a leading battery producer worldwide.

VinFast is the carmaker of Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate. Vingroup chairman Pham Nhat Vuong founded VinFast in 2017, and the EV producer broke ground for its North Carolina manufacturing complex on July 28, more than two weeks before it started trading on the Nasdaq.

Vingroup’s VinES Energy Solutions and Gotion High-Tech started construction of their $275 million battery factory in the central Vietnamese province of Ha Tinh in November 2022.

The joint venture factory – 49% of VinSE and 51% for Gotion – is designed to annually produce 30 million lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells. LFP is currently the most mainstream battery technology in the global new energy market, with unique advantages of high safety and long life.

The manufacturing facility’s battery cells will be used for electric vehicles and energy storage systems.

Vingroup said at that time that VinES and Gotion would in the later phase expand the project in line with the market’s development opportunities and potential.

German carmaker Volkswagen announced in June 2020 that it planned to invest 2.1 billion euros (about $2.3 billion) in China to develop its electric vehicle business in the country. Volkswagen said it would pay 1.1 billion euros to acquire a 26.47% stake in Gotion High-Tech, becoming the latter's largest shareholder.