VinFast’s SPAC partner for US listing extends its lifespan by one year

HANOI (Reuters) – Shareholders of Black Spade Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that planned to merge with Vietnam’s electric automaker VinFast by this month to allow a U.S. listing, voted on Thursday to extend its lifespan by a year.

The vote gives the Hong Kong-based SPAC until July 20, 2024 to merge with a target company. Its shareholders have not yet voted on the merger with VinFast.

BSA last month moved its listing from the New York Stock Exchange to the small cap bourse NYSE American.

In May, BSA and VinFast, which initially tried to list on its own, said they planned to merge in the second half of this year to allow VinFast’s listing.

The SPAC was founded by Black Spade Capital, the private investment arm of Lawrence Ho, the head of Melco Resorts & Entertainment, which operates casinos in Macau and the Philippines.

The extraordinary shareholders’ meeting, which was conducted in Hong Kong and online via webcast, lasted less than 10 minutes.

Shareholders in the SPAC were entitled to redeem their shares by Tuesday this week. Results on redemptions have not yet been announced.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio, Phuong Nguyen, Kevin Krolicki and Ben Klayman; editing by David Evans and Barbara Lewis)

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