Grab Says It’s ‘On Track’ to Complete U.S. Listing by Year’s End

(Nikkei Asia) — Singapore-based digital tech unicorn Grab is “on track” to go public by the end of this year, the company said Monday as it announced updates on the planned U.S. listing, which had been pushed back from the original target of July.

Grab Holdings Inc. is one of the biggest startups in Southeast Asia, offering app-based services such as ride-hailing, food delivery and mobile payment. In April, it unveiled a plan to go public on Nasdaq through a merger with Altimeter Growth Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, at a valuation of nearly $40 billion. Grab’s plan gives U.S. investors exposure to fast-growing but underrepresented Southeast Asian economies.

In June, the SPAC merger was pushed back to the fourth quarter of 2021, as auditors look into Grab’s financials for the past three years. That postponement came as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission tightened scrutiny over SPACs.

“We remain on track to close our proposed business combination with Altimeter Growth Corp. by the end of this year,” Grab President Ming Maa said in a webcast for investors on Monday.

Also in an SEC filing on the same day, the company noted that the business combination “is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021, following the receipt of the required approval by AGC’s shareholders and the fulfillment of other customary closing conditions.”

Grab’s major shareholders include the SoftBank Vision Fund, Uber Technologies, China’s Didi Chuxing and Toyota Motor. Once the planned merger is complete, Grab will have six board directors including CEO Anthony Tan, the company said Monday, with four of them being independent directors. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who currently serves as a director, will continue to sit on the board.

Grab on Monday also announced its earnings for the three months through March 2021. The net loss for the quarter was $652 million, compared with a $771 million loss in the year-ago period. Gross merchandise value (GMV) for the first quarter was $3.6 billion, up 5% from a year earlier due to rising demand for food and grocery delivery services.

GMV for food and grocery deliveries increased 49% on the year, while that for its transport business declined 36% due to the pandemic-induced lockdowns across Southeast Asia.

The company did not disclose figures for the April-June quarter, but Chief Financial Officer Peter Oey said in a statement that in “the second quarter we saw the continuing resilience and strong performance of our business, combined with disciplined operational execution.”

Some Southeast Asian countries now face their worst coronavirus infection waves due to slow vaccination rollouts, with megacities such as Thailand’s Bangkok and Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City under lockdowns, which could affect Grab’s businesses.

According to Monday’s filing, Grab expects GMV of $16.7 billion for full-year 2021, up about 35% from $12.5 billion in 2020.

This story was first published in Nikkei Asia.

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