SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Grab Holdings, Southeast Asia’s largest food transport and distribution company, will announce a merger with US-based Altimeter on Tuesday that will value Grab at nearly $ 40 billion and drive to a public quote, four people told Reuters.
The merger, which will be the company’s largest deal with blank checks, underscores the frenzy on Wall Street, as exchange companies have raised $ 99 billion in the United States so far this year. of a record $ 83 billion in revenue by 2020.
The Singapore-based grab agreement with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) with the support of Altimeter Capital includes a $ 4 billion private investment in public capital (PIPE) from a group of Asian and global investors, including Fidelity International and Janus Henderson, sources said.
Grab declined to comment on the SPAC agreement.
Altimeter, Fidelity, and Janus Henderson, based in Silicon Valley, and Janus Henderson did not respond to email requests for feedback.
Sources refused to identify themselves due to the sensitivity of the issue.
The deal with Grab, which was valued at just over $ 16 billion last year, will be a big win for its early sponsors such as SoftBank Group Corp and China’s Didi Chuxing.
Last year, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and IT services firm TIS Inc. invested $ 856 million in Grab as they expanded into financial services.
The bumper valuation validates the strategy of Grab co-founder Anthony Tan to aggressively leverage growth in new sectors and increase market share by pumping billions of dollars to locate its services and invest in high economies growth.
“Institutional investors seeking Asian consumer Internet exposure want to diversify their allocation beyond a handful of companies,” said Varun Mittal, head of fintech emerging market business at consulting firm EY.
Grab caught global attention in 2018 when it acquired Uber’s business in Southeast Asia after an expensive five-year battle and in return participated in the company.
Reuters reported in January that Grab, which has so far raised about $ 12 billion, was exploring a U.S. list. [L1N2JT0HC]
Grab’s agreed transaction will exceed the $ 24 billion deal by electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors, which was contracted with a SPAC in February. [L4N2KS4YJ]
INDONESIA BATTLEGROUND
With operations in eight countries and 398 cities, Grab is already the most valuable start-up in Southeast Asia.
Leveraging its business specializing in initiatives in 2012, the company has moved into grocery and food delivery, courier services, digital payments and is now boosting insurance and lending in a region of 650 million people.
The listing will give Grab additional firepower in its main market, Indonesia, where local rival Gojek is about to seal a merger with the country’s leading e-commerce business Tokopedia.
Grab, whose net revenue rose 70 percent last year, has yet to make a profit, but expects its largest segment, the food delivery business, to break down by the end of 2021, as more consumers move to online food delivery after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The sea, rich in cash and listed in the United States, is also dedicated to food delivery and financial services in Indonesia. Both Grab and Sea won digital banking licenses in Singapore last year.
Report by Anshuman Daga; Edited by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Mike Harrison