Grab Holdings has announced on April 13, that it intends to go public in the US with Altimeter Growth Corp.
The listing is said to be the largest-ever US equity offering by a Southeast Asian company.
The combined company will be traded on NASDAQ under the symbol GRAB. The listing is said to take place “in the coming months”.
Under the proposed transactions, Grab and Altimeter Growth will become wholly-owned subsidiaries of a new holding company.
The proposed transactions value Grab -- through the combined company -- at an initial pro-forma equity value of some US$39.6 billion at a private investment in public equity (PIPE) size of over US$4 billion.
It will provide Grab with some US$4.5 billion in cash proceeds.
In addition, Altimeter has committed up to US$500 million to a contingent investment to be equal to the total amount of redemptions from Altimeter Growth’s shareholders.
The PIPE was led by funds managed by Altimeter Capital Management, LP which committed US$750 million.
This includes participation from funds and accounts managed or advised by Temasek, BlackRock, Counterpont Global, T.Rowe Price Associates, Fidelity International, Fidelity Management and Research, and others.
Leading family groups from Indonesia who participated in the PIPE include Djarum, the Sariaatmadja family and Sinar Mas.
According to the statement, Altimeter’s sponsor promote shares are subject to a three-year lock-up period. The company is also donating 10% of its sponsor promote shares to support the GrabForGood fund.
The GrabForGood fund was announced last week with an initial fund size of US$275 million. The amount includes a personal contribution of US$25 million in Grab shares from Grab Group CEO and co-founder Anthony Tan, along with co-founder Tan Hooi Ling and president Ming Maa. The fund aims to introduce programmes with long-term social and environmental impact, including education, financial support for underserved communities and environmental issues.
Grab, a superapp that serves everyday needs including transport, deliveries and financial services, expects its total addressable market to grow from US$52 billion in 2020 to over US$180 billion by 2025.
The group says it believes it is “perfectly positioned to serve the needs of consumers, merchants and drivers in Southeast Asia through its superapp strategy” with an ecosystem of complementary services.
“It gives us immense pride to represent Southeast Asia in the global public markets. This is a milestone in our journey to open up access for everyone to benefit from the digital economy. This is even more critical as our region recovers from Covid-19,” says Anthony Tan, group CEO and co-founder of Grab.
“It was very challenging for us too, but it taught us immensely about the resiliency of our business. Our diversified superapp strategy helped our driver-partners pivot to deliveries, and enabled us to deliver growth while improving profitability. As we become a publicly traded company, we’ll work even harder to create economic empowerment for our communities, because when Southeast Asia succeeds, Grab succeeds,” Tan adds.
“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. 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,” says Brad Gerstner, founder and CEO of Altimeter.
In 2020, Grab posted gross merchandise value (GMV) of some US$12.5 billion in 2020, surpassing its pre-pandemic levels and more than doubling from 2018.
The group is currently the category leader in Southeast Asia for its core verticals. It accounts for some 72% of total regional GMV for ride-hailing, 50% of total regional GMV for online food delivery, and 23% of regional TPV for digital wallet payments in 2020.
The proposed transactions, which have been approved by the boards of directors of both Grab and Altimeter Growth, are expected to close in the coming months.
See also: Grab to list in New York in largest SPAC merger; listing to value Grab at US$35 bil and Grab attracts backing from T. Rowe, Temasek for record SPAC deal
