VN Express is reporting that shares fell Friday on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange on news out of the US that two law firms were looking to establish class action lawsuits against Vietnam’s Vinfast over breaches in disclosure rules. According to the article, Vinfast is confident this is just par for the course of doing business in the US and has said it doesn’t mean they are breaking the law.
Of note: Vinfast has come under intense scrutiny in the US well beyond what the firm or its parent company Vingroup is used to at home. In Vietnamese media, Vinfast is often treated as a ‘sensitive issue’ and protected by the authorities. It also has very lucrative advertising deals with most major news outlets and has been known to refer negative reviews of its products to the police. As a result, challenges and problems with the company and its products seldom see the light of day in Vietnam and subsequently are not addressed. This class action lawsuit, whether or not it gets up, speaks to the lack of preparedness of the firm to enter the market and the mismatch between Vietnamese and US corporate culture.