
Why Skills-First Leadership Is Replacing the Ivy League Playbook in the C-Suite
The old prestige pyramid—where Ivy League degrees and blue-chip consulting backgrounds paved the way to the CEO seat—is cracking.
May 15, 2023: On Friday, Vietnamese electric creator VinFast said that it would list in the United States through a union with particular purpose investment firms (SPAC) Black Spade Acquisition Co.
The move comes after the startup in the previous month said it had received a fresh round of funding pledges valued at $2.5 billion from parent firm Vingroup, Vietnam’s giant conglomerate, and founder Pham Nhat Vuong, Vietnam’s initial billionaire and richest man.
Following the merger, the recent entity will have an enterprise worth approximately $27 billion and an equity worth $23 billion, “assuming no BSAQ shareholders chose to have their Black Spade shares got back for cash as permitted,” VinFast and Black Spade stated in a statement.
The proof is anticipated to close in the next half of the present year, it said, adding the present shareholders of VinFast will hold approximately 99% of the combined company’s shares.
VinFast, founded in 2017 and began selling EVs in California this year, previously filed for a starting public offering in the U.S. to list on the Nasdaq in the ticker symbol “VFS” in December last year, which has a goal to surge regarding $60 billion.
The firm has said it has nearly 55,000 orders globally and can churn 300,000 EVs annually.
Black Spade Acquisition is a Hong Kong-based SPAC stated on the NYSE in July 2021 with a plan to mix, within two years, with a firm, ideally in the entertainment business, according to its website.
It was established by Black Spade Capital Limited, the private investment support of Lawrence Ho, the head of Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd, which runs casinos in Macau and the Philippines, the website and Refinitiv of the company stated.
“The partnership with Black Spade and the starting of VinFast in the U.S. shows the perfect capital-increasing avenue for our future global ambitions,” said Thuy Le, VinFast’s global chief executive.
VinFast’s move to list via a particular purpose acquisition company follows the likes of EV firms Microvast, Faraday Future, Nikola Corp and Lucid, even after a cooling in the once frenzied SPAC market, which has been aimed to closer scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission of U.S.
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The old prestige pyramid—where Ivy League degrees and blue-chip consulting backgrounds paved the way to the CEO seat—is cracking.
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