Altimeter SPACs surge on reported $40 billion deal for Singapore ride-hailing company Grab

• Altimeter Capital is in talks with ride-hailing company Grab to bring the company public in a $40 billion deal, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
• If the deal goes through, it would mark the biggest SPAC deal on record, according to the report.
• Two SPACs affiliated with Altimeter Capital surged as much as 20% in Thursday trades.
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Two SPACs affiliated with Altimeter Capital surged in Thursday trades following a report from The Wall Street Journal that said talks are underway for ride-hailing company Grab to go public via a reverse merger with the blank check company.

Altimeter Growth Corp. and Altimeter Growth Corp. 2 surged as much as 29% and 16%, respectively, as its unclear which SPAC is in talks to merge with Grab. The Wall Street Journal said deal talks could fall apart and if so, Grab would likely explore a traditional IPO listing on a US exchange later this year.

Grab is a ride-hailing transport services, food delivery and financial services company based in Singapore and operates across Southeast Asia. The firm was founded in 2012 and is backed by Softbank. A potential deal with Altimeter could be valued at up to $40 billion, according to the report.

The tie-up between Grab and Altimeter could happen in the next few weeks, and if so, it would mark the largest SPAC deal on record. Grab would raise between $3 billion and $4 billion in proceeds from the potential deal.

Altimeter Capital launched its two SPACs in October and January, raising a combined $850 million between the two blank-check vehicles. Altimeter is based in California and has about $16 billion in assets under management.

SPACs have been all the rage since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a $40 billion deal between Grab and Altimeter would likely cement the alternative IPO route as a worthy option once the pandemic subsides. So far this year, 246 SPAC IPOs have raised nearly $80 billion in proceeds, according to data from SPACInsider.