Grab seeks $750 million term loan

Southeast Asian ride-hailing and food delivery firm Grab is seeking a $750 million term loan, a term sheet showed on Monday after it announced that total group net revenue jumped by about 70% year-on-year in 2020 and had recovered to comfortably above pre-pandemic levels.

“In addition, we’ve hit our growth and profitability targets, and reached several new milestones,” Ming Maa, Grab’s president, said in an emailed newsletter update on the business.

Hours after the update, Grab and one of its subsidiaries were seeking a five-year loan of $750 million for general corporate purposes, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters.

Grab declined comment on the term sheet.

Backed by global investors including Softbank Group Corp, Grab has evolved from a ride-hailing app operator to a one-stop shop for services such as food delivery, payments and insurance, helping the company to become Southeast Asia’s most valuable start-up with a valuation of more than $15 billion.

“We’ve continued to be disciplined with spending and prudent in stewarding our shareholder capital, with monthly EBITDA spend being reduced by approximately 80% over the last 12 months,” Maa said.

Grab said in October that third-quarter group revenue had risen to more than 95% of pre-coronavirus levels and its food business accounted for more than 50% of revenue.

The company’s food delivery business, in which net revenue nearly tripled year on year in the third quarter, is expected to achieve breakeven by the end of 2021, it said on Monday.

Sources have said that investors in Grab and Indonesian rival Gojek are backing a merger of the two, but a deal is far from finalised. Both companies have talked up their strengths.