Red Flag Alert – One Hand Washing the Other

Related parties gone wild at VinFast

“How is this stuff still happening?”

That’s the question a friend who trades his own account asked when I sent him this morning’s press release from VinFast Auto, the Vietnamese electric vehicle (“EV”) maker, saying that it’s buying 99.8% of VinES Energy Solutions.

VinFast hit the headlines in August (including here) after it went public via a special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”) on the Nasdaq,  jumping 68% to nearly $70 on its first day of trading. That gave VinFast a market value greater than either Ford (F) or General Motors (GM)... even though it’s making zero money and barely selling any cars.

Within days it crashed and now trades below its so-called “de-SPAC” price of $10... but it still has a market value of $18 billion... not quite as much as Ford or GM, but still absurdly egregious.