Grab considers secondary Singapore listing after $40bn SPAC merger

Listing on Singapore Exchange will enable the ride-hailing company to have an investor base close to its business base

Grab, which began as a ride-hailing business in 2012, now operates in eight countries and more than 400 cities and has expanded into food and grocery deliveries, as well as digital payments. Photo: ReShow more

Grab Holdings, South-East Asia’s ride-hailing to delivery giant, is considering a secondary listing in its home market of Singapore after completing a Nasdaq listing via a $40 billion SPAC merger, three sources familiar with the matter said.

Listing on Singapore Exchange would enable Grab to have an investor base close to where its regional business is based, the people said, potentially offering its customers, drivers and merchant partners easier access to trade its shares.

Grab, a household name across South-East Asia, is in the early stages of considering a secondary listing in the city-state, said the sources.

The potential Singapore listing plans come after Grab this week agreed a $40bn merger with Altimeter Growth, a special purpose acquisition company, making this the world’s biggest SPAC deal.

Grab, which began as a ride-hailing business in 2012, now operates in eight countries and more than 400 cities and has expanded into food and grocery deliveries, as well as digital payments. Last year, it won a digital banking licence in Singapore.

It wasn’t clear how much Grab might aim to raise in any secondary listing, with financial terms and timetable still in the early stages of consideration, the sources said.

The company with the top valuation on the Singapore bourse is bank DBS Group, currently worth about S$74 billion ($55.4bn) by capitalisation.

One of the sources said that while Grab has sufficient cash reserves and could end up raising only a small amount on SGX, a listing would mark a big win for the exchange.

SGX has mainly only seen large IPOs from real estate investment trusts. Hindered by a small base of retail investors in the city-state, it has struggled with low liquidity and valuations, forcing a spate of delistings and also discouraging big-ticket listings from regional high-growth companies.

SGX has taken many steps to try to bulk up its stock market in recent years, and under chief executive Loh Boon Chye, who was appointed six years ago, it has acquired firms to transform itself into a multi-asset exchange.

Currently, there are 28 companies with a secondary listing on SGX, including Malaysia’s IHH Healthcare and Top Glove and Hong Kong conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings.

Last year, AMTD International became the first NYSE-listed firm to list on SGX. It also became the first to take advantage of a dual-class share structure in Singapore.

For Grab, as part of the SPAC merger, it’s raising $4bn from global investors including BlackRock, Temasek Holdings, Fidelity International, Malaysia’s Permodalan Nasional and some of Indonesia’s richest family groups.