Grab Holdings Inc. is in talks to make itself public through a merger with a SPAC that could value the launch of Southeast Asia for up to $ 40 billion, making it, by far, the most great registered.
The Singapore-based company is discussing an agreement with a special-purpose acquisition company affiliated with Altimeter Capital Management LP that would value it between $ 35 billion and $ 40 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. (Altimeter has two SPACs; it was not possible to know who is in conversations with Grab.)
As part of the deal, Grab would raise between $ 3,000 and $ 4 billion in the so-called PIPE, a round of funding that usually accompanies a SPAC merger, according to people. That amount could still change as Grab and Altimeter will soon start meeting with mutual funds and other potential investors, some of the people said.
The parties could announce the deal in the coming weeks, although talks could still disintegrate and Grab could return to an earlier plan to organize a traditional IPO this year in the United States.
Should they move forward with a SPAC deal, it would be the top mark in a recent explosion of these transactions, in which an empty shell collects money in an initial public offering with plans to later find one or more companies to merge with. In some cases, the SPAC ends up with only a small fragment of the recent public goal.
So far this year, a record has risen by more than $ 70 billion for SPACs, which account for more than 70 percent of all public stock sales, according to Dealogic. A number of companies are in talks for a SPAC merger or have already agreed on one, including WeWork, the online photo book office Shutterfly Inc. and online lender Social Finance Inc.
In addition to travel, Grab, founded in 2011, offers supermarkets and other items and provides digital financial services to merchants.
Its sponsors include SoftBank Group Corp.
, Uber Technologies Inc.
and Toyota Motor Corp.
According to PitchBook, it was last publicly valued at about $ 15 billion in a fundraising round in October 2019.
Altimeter SPAC: altimeter growth Corp.
and Altimeter Growth Corp .: raised $ 450 million and $ 400 million in the October and January IPOs, respectively. Altimeter Capital, of Menlo Park, California, has about $ 16 billion managed and invests primarily in technology companies.
The firm has amassed a number of successful investments and has been a major participant in a January Roblox funding round Corp.
rose ahead of its IPO to $ 45 per share. In its debut on Wednesday, shares of the video game platform traded more than 50% above that level and continued to rise Thursday morning.
Japan’s SoftBank, which invested through its Vision Fund, is also willing to earn a lot on Grab.
Private companies are flooding special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, to avoid the traditional IPO process and get a public listing. WSJ explains why some critics say investing in these so-called blank check companies is not worth it. Illustration: Zoë Soriano / WSJ
Write to Maureen Farrell to [email protected]
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