Grab weighs US listing through SPAC merger

Merging with a SPAC, a shell company whose sponsors raise money from investors in order to buy a private company and give it a berth on a public exchange, would allow Grab – South-East Asia’s most valuable startup backed by SoftBank Group Corp – to accelerate its listing process.

SINGAPORE: Grab Holdings Inc is exploring going public in the US through a merger with a blank-cheque company as the South-East Asian ride-hailing and delivery giant seeks to expedite its listing process, according to people familiar with the matter.

JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley, which are already advising Grab on its initial public offering (IPO) plans, are working with the startup to identify special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) that it could combine with, the people said.

Still, a US listing via a traditional IPO isn’t off the table, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private.

Representatives for Grab and JPMorgan declined to comment, while a representative for Morgan Stanley didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Merging with a SPAC, a shell company whose sponsors raise money from investors in order to buy a private company and give it a berth on a public exchange, would allow Grab – South-East Asia’s most valuable startup backed by SoftBank Group Corp – to accelerate its listing process.

Several of the region’s tech unicorns including Traveloka are considering going public through blank-cheque companies to ride on the red-hot sentiment.

Sea Ltd’s decade-long journey from a scrappy startup to South-East Asia’s most valuable company has inspired many Internet companies in the region to tap the capital markets to bankroll their expansion.

Singapore-based Sea, which runs mobile gaming and e-commerce businesses, went public in the US in 2017 after raising US$989mil and now has a market value of US$117bil.

Grab’s listing considerations come after talks to combine with Indonesian rival Gojek collapsed. The latter startup is now in advanced discussions to merge with local e-commerce pioneer PT Tokopedia instead, creating a powerful regional player in online services that may then seek to go public as well, Bloomberg News has reported. — Bloomberg