Southeast Asia's Grab shares jump 18% in US debut
An investor looks at an electronic board showing stock information at a brokerage house in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China April 16, 2018. Photo :Reuters
Shares of Grab rose 18% in their US market debut on Thursday following the Southeast Asian ride-hailing and delivery firm's record $40 billion merger with a blank-check company.
The backdoor listing on Nasdaq marks the high point for the nine-year-old Singapore company that began as a ride-hailing app and now operates across 465 cities in eight countries, offering food deliveries, payments, insurance and investment products.
By 1451 GMT, Grab's shares were trading 11% higher at $12.26.
The biggest US listing by a Southeast Asian company comes after Grab's April agreement to merge with US tech investor Altimeter Capital Management's SPAC, Altimeter Growth Corp and raise $4.5 billion, including $750 million from Altimeter.
