Web startup VNG filed for an preliminary public providing within the US, making it the primary Vietnamese know-how firm to hunt a list in New York and including to a diversifying roster of firms planning listings as fairness markets thaw.
VNG, which plans to supply virtually 22 million shares within the IPO, will set a proposed worth vary in a later submitting with the US Securities and Alternate Fee. It mentioned in its submitting Wednesday that VNG will proceed to be managed by its founders, Le Hong Minh and Vuong Quang Khai. VNG will personal 49% of VNG Corp., the Vietnamese working firm.
Previously referred to as Vinagame, VNG Corp. had its begin as a recreation writer in 2004. It develops and publishes its personal titles in addition to native variations of worldwide hits, and has steadily expanded to a variety of providers, corresponding to music sharing, video streaming, messaging, a information portal and cell funds. It has been exploring going public within the US since not less than 2017.
Its messaging app, Zalo, has gained over Meta Platform Inc.’s Fb Messenger to grow to be the most-used chatting platform in Vietnam since 2020. Zalo has 75 million month-to-month lively customers, based on a assertion.
“We have been born after the struggle, in a nation that had discovered peace and unity, however was nonetheless combating underdevelopment and isolation,” VNG’s founders mentioned in a letter to buyers included within the prospectus. “Little did we all know how fortunate we have been when the Web arrived in Vietnam in the course of the Nineties. The world magically and abruptly opened the door for us.”
VNG Ltd.’s IPO would observe this month’s US debut of Vietnamese electric-vehicle maker Vinfast Auto Ltd. after it accomplished a merger with blank-check firm Black Spade Acquisition Co. in a deal valuing it at $23 billion.
A list by VNG would add momentum to an IPO market that has been warming in suits and begins. Chip designer Arm Holdings Ltd., majority owned by SoftBank Group Corp., is planning to go public in September in what could be the yr’s greatest IPO. San Francisco-based grocery supply agency Instacart Inc. and advertising, information automation supplier Klaviyo and footwear maker Birkenstock are additionally making ready to file for IPOs, Bloomberg Information has reported.
VNG sees video games because the spearhead of its world enlargement plans whereas additionally searching for so as to add income from synthetic intelligence and cloud computing merchandise, Minh, the corporate’s chief government officer, mentioned in an interview final yr. The gaming arm VNGGames has not less than 9 studio video games overseas together with Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Taipei and China.
The providing is being led by Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley, UBS Group AG and Financial institution of America Corp. The corporate plans for its shares to commerce on the Nasdaq International Choose Market below the image VNG.