Millions of people across Southeast Asia rely on Grab for car and scooter rides as well as meal deliveries and digital financial services. The service disruption comes just weeks before the Singapore-based company is preparing to merge with Altimeter Growth Corp, the U.S. special purpose acquisition company of Brad Gerstner’s Altimeter Capital Management.
Grab has postponed the US$40 billion deal -- announced in April and one of the largest-ever mergers with a SPAC -- to the fourth quarter as it works on an audit of the past three years’ accounts. The company reiterated last week it expects the deal to complete this quarter.
Grab operates in more than 400 cities in eight countries in Southeast Asia. It is the dominant player in the region of about 650 million people, though competition is intensifying from rivals such as Gojek, which merged with e-commerce company PT Tokopedia to bulk up. Grab is also competing against Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda and Deliveroo Plc as well as new entrants such as AirAsia Group Bhd. in the region.
Photo: Bloomberg
