Grab, south-east Asia’s most valuable start-up, has agreed to the largest-ever merger with a special purpose acquisition company, raising $4.5bn in cash to go public in a US deal that will value its shares at close to $40bn.
Grab was founded in 2012 as the region’s answer to Uber and morphed into a superapp that provides everything from food delivery to digital payments. It will combine with a New York-listed Spac launched by Altimeter, a Silicon Valley firm known for its backing of late-stage technology companies.
The deal, which marks a significant moment for south-east Asian start-ups as well as the booming market for Spacs, shatters the record for the largest-ever merger by a blank-cheque vehicle as hundreds of competing entities search for private targets.