Grab Shares Slide in Nasdaq Debut Following $40B SPAC Deal

Update:

Grab shares dropped 21% to $8.75 on the company’s first day of trading on the Nasdaq, Thursday (Dec. 2). The slump gives Grab a market capitalization of about $34.6 billion, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.

Previous:

Grab’s Nasdaq debut Thursday (Dec. 2) is off to a bumpy start, with shares falling throughout the day from the opening price of $13.06 each, hitting $9.37 at midday, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Singapore-based Grab is Southeast Asia’s largest ride-haling company, according to the report. It merged with U.S.-based Altimeter Growth Corp. in a $40 billion special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal. The listing is the biggest in the U.S. by a Southeast Asian company.

“This is what Grab’s mission is all about, driving Southeast Asia forward by creating economic empowerment for everyone,” Grab CEO Anthony Tan said at Grab’s bell-ringing ceremony in Singapore, per the report.

See also: Grab Readies for Dec. 2 Nasdaq Opening

Tan said Grab’s super app strategy gave the company a variety of resources necessary to survive throughout the pandemic, whereas companies focusing on one vertical had a tougher time keeping their businesses afloat, the Financial Times (FT) reported.

“When mobility is down, food is up,” Tan said, per FT. “Digital payments also go up. If Vietnam is down, Indonesia is up. That is the beauty of being a regional super app for everyday needs.”

Grab operates in 465 cities across eight countries in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, the AP reported. The company started as a ride-hailing service in 2012 and evolved to offer a growing suite of services, including food delivery, payments and more.

Read also: Pandemic Concerns Could Dampen Wall Street Enthusiasm for Grab IPO

“Southeast Asia is on the verge of a tech boom, and Grab is front and center in that story,” Nirgunan Tiruchelvam, an analyst for Tellimer, told FT.