Grab eyes spinning off financial business: report

Sources claim that Grab is aiming to raise less than US$500m in the process.

Reuters reports that Grab is said to be studying the possibility of spinning off its financial and payments business after it mandated banks to approach potential investors to assume minority stake in the business.

Grab is reportedly aiming to raise less than US$500m through the spin-off although the move is largely about securing strategic investors than raising funds since the company is still keen on maintaining control over the unit.

In a heating superapp race with Indonesia’s Go-Jek, Grab has been pushing deeper into the increasingly lucrative consumer credit segment. In March, the firm officially ventured into SME lending and micro-insurance as part of its goal to offer a wide array of consumer services, from transport to delivery to payments, on its platform.

Also read: Can Grab plug Singapore SMEs funding crunch?

The latest move comes months after Southeast Asia’s most-funded start-up announced it had raked in more than $4.5b in a year-long funding exercise in the region’s largest private financing round.

Backed by SoftBank, the superapp is aiming to raise another US$2b this year.

Here’s more from Reuters.