Grab Holdings, the biggest food delivery and ride-hailing firm in Southeast Asia, has signed up a merger with US-based Altimeter Growth Corp, which will lead to a public listing of Grab and an initial pro forma equity value of around $39.6 billion in the agreement.
In the biggest blank-check deal so far, investors like Fidelity International, Temasek Holdings, and BlackRock have been involved in a private investment worth $4 billion in public equity.
Last year, the merger raised about $83 billion, and this year a whopping $99 billion is raised by shell firms so far. Early backers like China’s Didi Chuxing and SoftBank Group Corp are going to be benefitted in the journey.
The deal will provide the Singapore-based firm with $4.5 billion in cash proceeds. According to the shareholder approvals, the proposed transactions have been approved by the boards of both the companies and are expected to close in the coming months.
The offering is managed by Altimeter Capital and includes $750 million from funds.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Grab showed a strong financial performance last year, which drove the company to list as a public company.
