Grab Holdings Inc. is in the process of becoming public through a merger with a SPAC that could value the Southeast Asian startup at $ 40 billion, making it by far the largest such deal.
The Singapore-based company is discussing a deal with a special-purpose acquisition company affiliated with Altimeter Capital Management LP, which is estimated to be worth between $ 35 billion and $ 40 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. (The altimeter has two SPACS; it was not possible to find out which one is in discussion with Grab.)
In the deal, Grab would raise $ 3 billion to $ 4 billion in a so-called PIPE, a round of financing that usually accompanies a SPAC merger, people said. That amount could change further as Grab and Altimeter begin meeting with mutual funds and other potential investors soon, some people said.
The parties could announce the agreement in the next few weeks, although talks could continue to fall apart, and Grab could return to a previous plan to hold a traditional IPO on a US stock exchange this year.
If it goes further with a SPAC agreement, it would be the maximum mark of a recent explosion of such transactions, in which an empty carcass raises money in an initial public offering, with plans to later find one or more companies. with which to merge. In some cases, the SPAC ends with only a small piece of the new public target.
So far this year, an additional $ 70 billion has been raised for SPACs, which accounts for more than 70% of total public share sales, according to Dealogic. A number of companies are in talks for a SPAC merger or have already agreed to one, including the sharing office of WeWork, the online photo maker of Shutterfly Inc. and online lender Social Finance Inc.
In addition to ride-hailing, Grab, founded in 2011, delivers food and other items and provides digital financial services to merchants.
Its supporters include SoftBank Group Body.
, Uber Technologies Inc.
and Toyota Motor Body.
According to PitchBook, the last time it was publicly valued at about $ 15 billion in a fundraising round in October 2019.
Altimeter SPACs – Altimeter increase Body.
and Altimeter Growth Corp. – raised $ 450 million and $ 400 million in the October and January IPOs, respectively. Altimeter Capital, in Menlo Park, California, manages about $ 16 billion and invests primarily in technology companies.
The company has amassed a number of successful investments and was one of the main participants in a January round of Roblox financing Body.
increased before the IPO to $ 45 per share. At the beginning of Wednesday, the shares of the video game platform traded over 50% above this level and continued to increase on Thursday morning.
The Japanese SoftBank, which has invested through its Vision Fund, is also ready to earn big on Grab.
Private companies are flooding special purpose procurement companies or SPACs, to bypass the traditional IPO process and get a public listing. WSJ explains why some critics say that investing in these so-called blank-check companies is not worth the risk. Illustration: Zoë Soriano / WSJ
Write to Maureen Farrell at [email protected]
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