Singapore-based ride-hailing giant Grab is considering listing its shares in a US-based stock exchange this year, media reports said. Grab could raise around $2 billion in its initial public offering (IPO), which would likely make it the largest overseas share offering by a Southeast Asian company.
Last month, investors of Grab and its rival Indonesia-based Gojek, urged the two giants to merge their businesses. Grab’s founder and chief executive, Anthony Tan reportedly emailed his employees to say that Grab was in a position to acquire.
Anthony Tan said in the email, “There is speculation again about a Gojek deal. Our business momentum is good, and as with any market consolidation rumours, we are the ones in a position to acquire.”
Both companies, which compete with each other in various sectors, have been waging a price war against each other since last year when it comes to ride-hailing and food delivery sectors. A potential merger deal between Grab and Gojek will be the biggest tech merger in Southeast Asia. Grab is valued at $15 billion. Whereas, Gojek is valued at $10 billion.
Last year, it was also reported that Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba was in talks to invest around $3 billion in Grab. Alibaba was the sole investor in this particular funding round for Grab and acquired stocks previously held by Uber Technologies. This was Alibaba’s biggest investment in Singapore. Previously, Alibaba invested around $1 billion in ecommerce firm Lazada in 2016.