Grab shares drop over 20% in biggest US listing of a Southeast Asian company
Singapore-headquartered ride-hailing and e-commerce company Grab stunned investors with a nearly 21-per cent drop in its share price at the firm’s trading debut on December 2 on the Nasdaq via a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.
Shares opened at $13.06 and moved to an intraday high of $13.29, but then fell to an intraday low of $8.13 to finally end the trading day at $8.75, which is a more than 20-per cent drop from the previous day when the shares still traded as a SPAC named Altimeter Growth Corporation closed at $11.01.
The drop dragged the company’s market value, which was combined with the SPAC in a record $40-billion merger, down to $34.6 billion at the market close on the first trading day. Shares only recovered slightly by between two and three per cent in early trading on December 3.
Investors not amused
Prominent investors in Grab, including Singapore’s sovereign investment fund Temasek, US investment giants BlackRock and Fidelity and Abu Dhabi’s government fund Mubadala were said to be not amused by the performance of Southeast Asia’s biggest ride-hailing and delivery firm in what was the biggest-ever US listing by a Southeast Asian company and a key event to watch for peers such as Indonesia’s GoTo which also plans a SPAC listing in the US.
Grab raised $4.5 billion in the listing and said it would use the proceeds to expand regionally in Southeast and East Asia and technically with new offerings on its “super app.” The company also did not rule out mergers and acquisitions in case “strategic opportunities” would emerge.
Grab has previously said that it chose to go public in the US rather than in Southeast Asia because it wanted to tap into a larger investor base. But the possibility of listing on an exchange in Southeast Asia at some point remains on the cards.
Not yet profitable
Grab, which was founded in 2021, now operates in nearly 470 cities across eight Southeast Asian markets, employs 700,000 drivers and offers food delivery, payments and financial services, in addition to ride-hailing, to 187 million users.
The company is not yet profitable. Results for the third quarter released in November showed losses of $988 million and a drop in revenue of nine per cent over the same quarter in the previous year.
[caption id="attachment_37857" align="alignleft" width="300"] Grab debuts on Nasdaq on December 2[/caption] Singapore-headquartered ride-hailing and e-commerce company Grab stunned investors with a nearly 21-per cent drop in its share price at the firm’s trading debut on December 2 on the Nasdaq via a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Shares opened at $13.06 and moved to an intraday high of $13.29, but then fell to an intraday low of $8.13 to finally end the trading day at $8.75, which is a more than 20-per cent drop from the previous day when the shares still traded as a SPAC named Altimeter Growth...
Singapore-headquartered ride-hailing and e-commerce company Grab stunned investors with a nearly 21-per cent drop in its share price at the firm’s trading debut on December 2 on the Nasdaq via a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.
Shares opened at $13.06 and moved to an intraday high of $13.29, but then fell to an intraday low of $8.13 to finally end the trading day at $8.75, which is a more than 20-per cent drop from the previous day when the shares still traded as a SPAC named Altimeter Growth Corporation closed at $11.01.
The drop dragged the company’s market value, which was combined with the SPAC in a record $40-billion merger, down to $34.6 billion at the market close on the first trading day. Shares only recovered slightly by between two and three per cent in early trading on December 3.
Investors not amused
Prominent investors in Grab, including Singapore’s sovereign investment fund Temasek, US investment giants BlackRock and Fidelity and Abu Dhabi’s government fund Mubadala were said to be not amused by the performance of Southeast Asia’s biggest ride-hailing and delivery firm in what was the biggest-ever US listing by a Southeast Asian company and a key event to watch for peers such as Indonesia’s GoTo which also plans a SPAC listing in the US.
Grab raised $4.5 billion in the listing and said it would use the proceeds to expand regionally in Southeast and East Asia and technically with new offerings on its “super app.” The company also did not rule out mergers and acquisitions in case “strategic opportunities” would emerge.
Grab has previously said that it chose to go public in the US rather than in Southeast Asia because it wanted to tap into a larger investor base. But the possibility of listing on an exchange in Southeast Asia at some point remains on the cards.
Not yet profitable
Grab, which was founded in 2021, now operates in nearly 470 cities across eight Southeast Asian markets, employs 700,000 drivers and offers food delivery, payments and financial services, in addition to ride-hailing, to 187 million users.
The company is not yet profitable. Results for the third quarter released in November showed losses of $988 million and a drop in revenue of nine per cent over the same quarter in the previous year.
