Grab is said to move forward with talks to acquire rival GoTo

[SINGAPORE, HONG KONG] Grab Holdings is moving forward with its attempt to take over GoTo Group, according to sources familiar with the matter, who said the Singaporean ride and delivery firm has begun due diligence on its Indonesian rival.

Grab has been evaluating GoTo’s accounts, contracts and operations, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the companies have not announced a deal. Grab, GoTo and their shareholders have also been assessing the potential structure and value of an agreement, the sources said.

Talks are ongoing and may not lead to a transaction, the sources said.

Grab, which is backed by Uber Technologies, has held on-and-off talks with GoTo, but a merger never materialised, partly because of antitrust concerns likely to arise from combining two dominant South-east Asian tech companies. Uber left the region in 2018 in exchange for its stake in Grab, and smaller competitors have not eaten significantly into Grab and GoTo’s market share.

Representatives for Grab and GoTo declined to comment.

Grab, which is backed by Uber Technologies, has held on-and-off talks with GoTo, but a merger never materialised, partly because of antitrust concerns likely to arise from combining two dominant South-east Asian tech companies. Uber left the region in 2018 in exchange for its stake in Grab, and smaller competitors have not eaten significantly into Grab and GoTo’s market share.

Shares of GoTo, whose investors include SoftBank Group, were trading at 76 rupiah in Jakarta early on Tuesday (Mar 18) afternoon. They are up more than 8 per cent this year, giving the company a market value of about 90 trillion rupiah (S$7.3 billion).

Growth for both Grab and GoTo has cooled dramatically from triple-digit rates as consumers in South-east Asia curtail spending to cope with elevated inflation and interest rates. BLOOMBERG