Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Hughes Hubbard & Reed have advised Grab Holdings, the largest ride-hailing and food delivery firm in Southeast Asia, on its agreement to merge with special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Altimeter Growth Corp.

This deal is expected to be the largest-ever U.S. equity offering by a Southeast Asian company, according to Reuters. Ropes & Gray is advising Altimeter, while Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr is representing Altimeter Capital Management and Altimeter Capital Markets. Cooley is counselling investors Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan, while Morrison & Foerster is acting for an unnamed institutional investor.

The merger secures Grab a valuation of nearly $40 billion, and paves the way for a coveted U.S. listing, reported Reuters. Under the agreement, Grab and Altimeter will become wholly-owned subsidiaries of a new holding company. The transaction assumes a pro forma equity value for the combined company of approximately $39.6 billion, Reuters added.  

Grab is a Singaporean multinational ride-hailing company which also provides food delivery and digital payments services via a mobile app. In 2018, it acquired Uber Technologies’ business in the Southeast Asian region.

The Skadden team was led by partners Jonathan Stone, Rajeev Duggal, Steve Kwok, Andrew Foster, Victor Hollender, Brian Breheny and Raquel Fox, while partners Ken Lefkowitz and Gerold Niggemann led the Hughes Hubbard team.

Partners Will Cai and Ferish Patel led the Cooley team, while the Morrison & Foerster team was led by partners Shirin Tang and Ruomu Li.

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