Southeast Asia's Grab considering US$2b IPO

Southeast Asian ride-hailing and food delivery giant Grab is exploring a listing in the United States this year, encouraged by robust investor appetite for initial public offerings, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Grab’s IPO could raise at least US$2 billion, one of the sources said, which would likely make it the largest overseas share offering by a Southeast Asian company.

“The market is good and the business is doing better than before. This should work well for public markets,” he said.

The plans, including the size of the issue and timing, have not been finalised and are subject to market conditions, said the sources, who declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak about the matter.

Singapore-based Grab declined comment on the potential IPO.

Grab, whose backers include SoftBank Group Corp and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, has expanded rapidly from its beginnings as a ride-hailing venture in Malaysia in 2012 to become the region’s most valuable startup worth more than US$16 billion.

It has raised more than US$10 billion as it becomes a one-stop shop for services such as food delivery, payments and insurance in Southeast Asia, home to about 650 million people.