HANOI - Vietnamese electric car maker VinFast has signed a non-binding deal with a consortium of Emirati investors to receive at least $1 billion in funding, a person with direct knowledge of the agreement said.

The source told Reuters there was no clear timeframe for the possible disbursement from the group, led by Emirates Driving Company, a provider of driving education services in Abu Dhabi.

Bloomberg News earlier on Wednesday reported VinFast was set to receive at the least $1 billion in investments from the Emirati group.

Emirates Driving Company (EDC) did not immediately respond to an email seeking confirmation. Vingroup, the parent company of VinFast, declined to comment about the size of the investment.

Vingroup said in a press release on Tuesday it had signed a memorandum of understanding with EDC that "will lead a consortium investing in VinFast," but Vingroup did not give details of the size of the possible investment.

Tuesday's press release and the source did not name any other investor.

VinFast listed on the Nasdaq in August last year when it said it had a number of strategic investors lining up but none have been announced yet.

The company in September reported a net loss of $773.5 million in its April-June quarter, an increase of 27% from the first quarter and 40% bigger than the same period last year.

Last week, it said it delivered 21,912 electric vehicles in the third quarter, up 66% from the sequentially previous quarter.

Earlier this week, Vietnam signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with the United Arab Emirates, its first free-trade deal with a Middle East country.

(Reporting by Phuong Nguyen in Hanoi and Rishi Kant in Bengaluru. Additional reporting by Federico Maccioni in Dubai. Writing by Francesco Guarascio. Editing by Martin Petty and Jane Merriman)