Southeast Asia's Ride-Hailing Giant Grab Going Public In Record-Breaking $39.6B SPAC Merger

Grab Holdings Inc, the SoftBank Group Corp SFTBF backed Singapore-headquartered ride-hailing company serving eight nations across Southeast Asia, has announced plans to go public in a transaction that will become the largest SPAC merger on record.

What Happened: Grab is merging with Altimeter Growth Corp. AGC in a deal that puts Grab at an initial pro-forma equity value of approximately $39.6 billion at a PIPE size of more than $4 billion. If the merger is approved, Grab will receive approximately $4.5 billion in cash proceeds and become publicly listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker GRAB.

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Grab's transaction will top the previous SPAC merger record set in February by Lucid Motors, which announced it was going public in union with Churchill Capital Corp IV CCIV. Last month, Benzinga reported that JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM and Morgan Stanley MS were guiding Grab on its IPO ambitions and identified potential SPACs for the merger.

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Why It Matters: Grab was founded in June 2012 and has a 6,000-person workforce. Besides offering transportation services, the company also provides food delivery and digital payment services via a mobile app. The company operates in Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

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In announcing the merger, Grab and Altimeter emphasized the presence of a Southeast Asian company within the U.S. markets.

"It gives us immense pride to represent Southeast Asia in the global public markets," said Anthony Tan, Group CEO and co-founder of Grab. "This is a milestone in our journey to open up access for everyone to benefit from the digital economy."

"As one of the world's largest and fastest-growing internet companies, Grab is paving the digital path forward for the 670 million citizens of Southeast Asia," added Brad Gerstner, founder and CEO of Altimeter. "We are thrilled that Grab selected Altimeter Capital Markets as their partner to go public and even more excited to become sizable long-term owners in this innovative, mission-driven company."

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Photo by Jon Russell / Flickr Creative Commons.