Grab Holdings Inc. said it would go public on the Nasdaq Stock Market by merging with a special-purpose acquisition company, reaching a valuation of nearly $ 40 billion in a new milestone for the SPAC boom that has ravaged U.S. financial markets .
The $ 39.6 billion deal on Grab’s list, a group specializing in food and digital wallet distribution that operates in much of Southeast Asia, is, by far, what a check company involves. blank and means that Grab’s rating has doubled in just 18 months. The merger is also accompanied by a fundraiser of more than $ 4 billion, which is the largest share sale ever made by a Southeast Asian company in the United States.
Singapore-based Grab said Tuesday it would merge with Altimeter Growth Corp., an SPAC sponsored by Altimeter Capital, of Menlo Park, California, confirming details previously reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The Grab merger adds to the frenzy of making SPAC-related deals. A total of 306 SPACs have hit a record $ 99 billion in the U.S. this year, according to SPAC Research, and about 435 of those vehicles are still looking for a merger target.
As part of the deal, more than $ 4 billion has been pledged into the so-called PIPE, a type of funding round that typically accompanies these mergers with blank check companies. PIPE means “private investment in public capital.” Grab will receive a maximum of about $ 4.5 billion in cash from the transaction.