Aaron WoolnerSoutheast Asian ride-hailing and delivery firm Grab Holdings is to delay its planned special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger to the fourth quarter.
In April the firm announced it was due to go public in the US on the Nasdaq in a $40bn deal in partnership with special-purpose acquistion company Altimeter Capital. However, on 9 June the Singapore-listed firm said in a stock market filing that it was delaying the move as it resolved historic issues with its accounts.
Grab said it was finalising its financial audits for the 2018, 2019 and 2020 financial years and was awaiting pre-clearance from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding certain accounting policies.
Grab reveals $3.6bn 2021 Q1 gross merchandise value
Grab’s filing also revealed the Singapore-based company’s gross merchandise value hit $3.6bn in the first quarter of 2021. While on an annualised basis that’s 15.2% higher than the company’s 2020 revenues, this is still half the speed of its 2021 growth aims.
SPACs, also known as blank check companies, are publicly traded companies created solely to raise money and acquire an existing private company. It’s a growing trend with more than 240 listings in the US in 2020 raising a record $83bn, according to SPAC Research – numbers that were exceeded in the first quarter of 2021 with a total of $98.1bn.
Grab was launched in Malaysia as taxi-hailing app MyTeksi in 2012, before expanding into delivery services and other Southeast Asian countries. Grab’s biggest shareholder is SoftBank Vision Fund; other major stakeholders include Uber Technologies, Didi Chuxing Technology and Toyota.
