Asian Tech Press (Nov 24) -- Grab, the Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant and unicorn will go public in the U.S. as early as December, before it merges with Special Special Purpose Acquisition Corporation (SPAC), which will vote on the merger deal next week.
The combined SPAC, called Altimeter Growth Corp., will hold an extraordinary shareholder meeting on Nov. 30 U.S. time to get shareholders to support the merger. On the same day, Grab will also meet to vote. If both shareholders agree, Grab should be able to successfully complete the merger and then head to Nasdaq for an IPO.
In a filing to regulators on Friday, Altimeter Growth called on shareholders to approve the merger deal. The statement also said Grab's registration statement filed with the SEC for the listing was "valid," which clears the way for the deal.
Grab CFO Peter Oey said at the Nov. 11 third-quarter earnings meeting, "If approved at the shareholder meetings of both parties, we will merge with Altimeter Growth Corp. in the business and then go public within a few days."
Grab claims to go public in the fourth quarter, but the company initially set a time frame of three quarters. Grab's valuation is worth watching for investors. It will become a benchmark for Southeast Asian IPOs to the U.S. Altimeter Growth valued Grab at $40 billion when the merger deal was announced in April.
Grab CEO Anthony Tan will become chairman and CEO, co-founder Tan Hooi Ling will become COO and director, and the new company will have four independent directors, including Uber CEO The new company has four independent directors, including Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
Grab, which was founded in 2012, focuses on taxi, food delivery and mobile payments and is pursuing what it calls a "super app" strategy, targeting markets in Southeast Asia, with entries in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia and Myanmar.
Grab reported a net loss of $988 million for the three months ended September this year, compared with a loss of $621 million a year earlier.
