Grab to acquire majority stake in BNPL platform Atome for US$1.5 billion
[SINGAPORE] Grab announced on Tuesday (Sep 15) that it will acquire a 60 per cent stake in Atome Financial from Advance Intelligence Group for US$1.5 billion in cash.
The buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platform will combine its BNPL loans, consumer cash loans and digital lending with Grab’s financial services business, and gain access to customers in Grab’s ecosystem.
For Grab, the acquisition will accelerate the growth of its financial services business, including a scaled-up BNPL platform for consumer lending. The move also strengthens the flywheel effect on its ecosystem, said the super-app in a statement.
Atome Financial operates in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, and has 25 million cumulative transacted users.
The BNPL platform will be able to access some 54 million monthly transacting users on Grab, which would in return be able to cross-sell opportunities in Atome Financial’s network of over 30,000 brands.
Grab chief operating officer Alex Hungate said that, so far, only 1 per cent of the super-app’s 138 million annual transacting users have taken a loan from it.
“This acquisition is an opportunity for us to leapfrog the 10 years of learning across multiple products and markets that Atome Financial has already been through, so we don’t have to go through the pain of all the credit losses to train those models,” he said.
Atome Financial is already profitable and generating strong cash flows, and Grab’s data would improve Atome’s credit models and enhance their capabilities.
This acquisition will enhance both companies’ credit underwriting capabilities, and Grab expects it to be a meaningful contributor to its financial services segment targets.
This is expected to translate into faster loan-book growth and lower cost to serve. Atome Financial has a US$1 billion gross loan portfolio that has maintained credit quality, and delinquency rates have been improving or stable among the borrower cohorts.
Grab will maintain its own suite of financial products, even in markets where Atome Financial operates, to give consumers more choice.
Hungate said: “The credit market is very large in places like Singapore and Malaysia, so there’s lots of white space. It’s not really a net sum zero situation between us and Atome Financial.”
Grab will financially consolidate Atome Financial into its financial services segment, and Atome Financial’s management team will continue to drive the business.
An acquisition in two phases
The first phase of the transaction for the 60 per cent stake is expected to complete by the third quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals.
The second phase, to take place about two years after the transaction is completed, would entail the acquisition of the remaining 40 per cent at a pre-agreed valuation framework rather than a fixed price, subject to regulatory approvals.
This consideration for the second phase will be tied to Atome Financial’s actual performance between the closings of the first and second phases. At least half the consideration will be settled in cash.
The valuation of Atome Financial is subject to a floor of US$2 billion and a cap of US$4.5 billion.
Along with the deal announcement, Atome raised its 2028 targets, forecasting adjusted Ebitda of US$1.7 billion and annual revenue growth of more than 30 per cent between 2025 and 2028.
Grab’s share repurchase programme
Separately, Grab announced that it will complete its US$900 million share repurchase programme over the next 12 months.
This will bring its cumulative share repurchases to about US$1.8 billion since 2024, representing the full amount authorised by its board of directors.
This represents over 10 per cent of Grab’s shares, which the company intends to cancel, said Peter Oey, chief financial officer of Grab.
