KUALA LUMPUR – Ride-hailing giant Grab Holdings Inc’s plan to be listed under the Nasdaq exchange is yet another “feather in the cap” for the Singapore-based company, said Sunway University professor of economics Yeah Kim Leng.
Speaking to The Vibes, Yeah said Grab’s latest development to shoot for a US listing “in the coming months” on the exchange following a merger with investment fund Altimeter Capital Management is a major accomplishment, and it will likely raise sizeable cash to support its current ventures as well as aim for other regional markets.
“This move definitely gives it access to international capital markets. Its decision to have a more diversified shareholding is clear on expanding its current footprint elsewhere.”
Grab had said in a statement, the listing would be the biggest global market launch via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
The merger with Altimeter Capital will value Grab at US$39.6 billion (RM163.4 billion) and provide the company US$4.5 billion in fresh funds should the move be successful.
On whether national sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s decision not to finance Grab via seed funding in its early days is regrettable given its present growth, Yeah said it would be pure conjecture to speculate on the circumstances involving the deal back then.
“Khazanah has a process in which due diligence is done before it decides where to invest and this is similar with every sovereign fund throughout the world. While many can claim that it was a missed opportunity for Khazanah, in 2015, perhaps it did not want to take undue risk.
“At the same time, perhaps Singapore’s sovereign fund Temasek felt that it could take the risk, having much deeper pockets, and went ahead to fund Grab at that time.”
In 2015, Grab which was previously known as MyTeksi, had applied to Khazanah for a financial grant of US$10 million but a financing deal failed to materialise following lengthy internal checks and processes.
Temasek, however, agreed to finance Grab, prompting both of its Malaysian founders, present CEO Anthony Tan and COO Tan Hooi Ling, to set up its headquarters in the island republic that same year.
Grab’s partnership with Altimeter should lead to “the largest-ever US equity offering by a Southeast Asian company”, according to its statement.
The company's growth from strength to strength also saw Japan’s Softbank and carmakers Toyota and Hyundai invest funds as well.
The merger will see the SPAC trade shares on Nasdaq under the symbol “GRAB”.
Grab’s rise also saw it take over American-based Uber’s Asean market business in 2018, which had active operations in Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. – The Vibes, April 15, 2021
