Singapore’s Grab to go public at US$40 billion valuation amid SPAC frenzy
- The deal would be the biggest acquisition ever by a blank cheque company known as a SPAC
- Grab is Southeast Asia’s most valuable tech unicorn, with businesses spanning ride-hailing to food delivery
Grab Holdings, Southeast Asia’s most valuable tech unicorn, said it would go public via a US-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in a deal that would value the company at about US$39.6 billion.
The Singapore ride-hailing and food-delivery giant would merge with Altimeter Growth, an investment vehicle backed by Silicon Valley’s Altimeter Capital Management, and go public with a listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
As part of the deal, investors have agreed to provide more than US$4 billion in so-called private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing. Grab will receive up to US$4.5 billion in cash from the overall transaction.
“We have sizeable and real profit centres now within the business. The way that we think about [a US listing] is it is a natural evolution as we get more and more mature,” Ming Maa, Grab’s president, told the Post. The US listing “would be the next stage to access a different set of investors.”
