HANOI, Aug 10 Reuters Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast said it expects to start trading on the U.S. Nasdaq as soon as next week after its merger into a special purchase acquisition company SPAC was approved on Thursday.

Shareholders of Hong Kongbased Black Spade Acquisition, a blankcheck company, voted on Thursday to approve the merger with VinFast.

VinFast, in a joint statement with Black Spade, said it would list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol VFS on or around August 15.

Remaining shareholders of Black Spade approved the merger on Thursday. In July, over 80 of the shareholders in the SPAC had opted to redeem their shares before the merger.

The SPAC merger will not raise new capital for VinFast but the company39;s founder Pham Nhat Vuong has championed a U.S. listing as the carmaker seeks to expand in the U.S. market and is building a plant in North Carolina.

The merger had valued VinFast at 23 billion, the two companies said. In comparison, the current market capitalisation of U.S.listed EV makers Rivian and Lucid are 21 billion and around 17 billion respectively.

It leaves VinFast39;s existing shareholders, including parent company Vingroup and Vuong, Vietnam39;s richest man, with 99 of shares in the company.

The voting results today are a vote of confidence in VinFast from Black Spade shareholders, VinFast39;s global head Thuy Le said in the statement.

VinFast had filed for an initial public offering on the Nasdaq last December, but in May…