Internet giant Grab announced it has closed its first senior secured term loan facility after receiving commitments from undisclosed international institutional investors.
The facility is structured as a five-year term loan B with a principal amount of US$2 billion, one of the largest of its kind in the Asian tech sector, Grab claimed. It was upsized from the original US$750 million target after strong interest from investors, the company added.
Photo credit: Grab
Grab said it plans to use the new capital to further invest in its growth initiatives. The development also comes as the Southeast Asian startup aims to diversify its financing sources, having previously raised funding primarily in investment rounds from its shareholders.
“With [investors’] support, we will invest in building a long-lasting, multilocal services business, so that millions of Southeast Asians can support their families and improve their lives with our everyday services,” said Grab group CEO and co-founder Anthony Tan.
JP Morgan acted as lead bookrunner, while Barclays, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Mizuho Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, and Standard Chartered were joint bookrunners.
See Also: Beyond FOMO: Why Grab should race to an IPO fast
Just last week, it was reported that Grab had already chosen the banks it plans to work with in a potential US initial public offering, which has the possibility of netting the company at least US$2 billion. The financial debut came after the Singapore-born company’s merger talks with Indonesian rival Gojek were dropped.
Meanwhile, reports also surfaced saying Gojek was in advanced talks with local ecommerce major Tokopedia about a possible merger.
Editing by Collin Furtado and Jaclyn Teng
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