Want a wild ride on SGX?

There’s iFast. Go check it out punters and FTs working in SGX. It’s been on a wild ride. Think Sea and Grab.

No need for SGX’s FTs to try to get Grab and Sea to list here to give us locals the thrills and spills of a wild, guts spilling ride on a tornado.

Singapore seeks tech listings boost
Singapore is lobbying its largest tech companies to relist in the city-state, arguing it is their “national duty” in an escalation of the financial hub’s bid to boost the appeal of its stock market. Over the past year, exchange officials have intensified attempts to persuade Singapore-based companies, including tech conglomerate Sea and superapp Grab, to return after completing IPOs in the US.

FT newsletter

Btw, the actions of SGX’s FTs show that they don’t know what’s here.

Something on iFast soon.

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Amg moh investors pass on Grab

Not a good debut for Grab.

Shares in Grab whipsawed in their Nasdaq debut on Thursday after the SE Asian super app concluded a record US$40bn merger deal with a blank cheque company. Shares opened at US$13.06, up from the previous day’s close of US$11.01 when it was still trading as Altimeter Growth Corp, but then fell below $9 in early trading. It closed at US$8.75.

LOL or SAD?

Grab kicks S’pore Inc in the balls

Grab’s

  executives to consider an initial public offering in the US this year

FT

It has just raised US$2bn, most of it from US investors. It upsized its term loan from US$750m to US$2bn.

Digital banking: Why SingTel and Grab are onto a winner

The digital finance opportunity is huge. A joint survey from Alphabet-owned Google, Temasek and Bain & Company found that over a third of e-commerce consumers in the region’s top six economies only started to use online services because of the pandemic and over 90% plan to stick with their new habit. The same report forecast online payment transactions will rise 15% to $1.2 trillion by 2025, up from $620 billion in 2020.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-singapore-banks-breakingviews/breakingviews-grab-ceo-will-step-into-2021s-tech-limelight-idUSKBN28V09K

In particular, think the opportunity to handle the remittances of FTs particularly the Indon and Pinoy maids. then the Indian FT and Bangladeshi FTs. Singtel has as associates telcos in Indon, PinoyLand and India. SingTel is oversold: go buy some. I own some shares.

(Btw, read the above link because it gives a glowing picture of the prospects for Grab. S’pore’s the cash cow for Grab after Uber surrendered.)

FYI, how FT reported the award of the digital banking licenses:

Singapore has finalised the award of digital banking licenses to four operators this month. In picking Sea, Ant Group and a consortium between Grab and Singapore Telecommunications as three of the license winners, Singapore is harnessing some of the region’s biggest tech names.

“We expect the speed of innovation of the new digital banks to strengthen Singapore’s position as a leading financial hub in the region,” said Paul Ng, financial services lead for south-east Asia at Accenture.

The move could help boost digital financial services in south-east Asia (see chart). Online lending is expected to grow fourfold between 2020 and 2025, to $92bn, while online investment assets are set to increase to $84bn from $21bn over the same period.

FT

FYI, SingTel, Hong Leong will get digital bank licences

Grab and Gojek can’t be both right/ Consumers get screwed

Grab and Gojek both claim to be negotiating from strength in their merger talks.

Grab and Gojek, who dominate ride-hailing and food delivery in south-east Asia, each told their staff that they are in a position of strength ahead of a potential merger. Grab is valued at US$10bn twice that of Gojek.

The two start-ups have been urged to combine forces by their investors, in particular SoftBank, after fierce and expensive rivalry for market share.

Grab operates in 8 countries, while Gojek operates in 5 but it’s the biggest player by far in Indonesia, the region’s largest and fastest growing market. They are the top two players in most markets. 

My money is on no deal. This is good for consumers: A merger creates a monopoly with more expensive services for customers.

S’pore, Indonesia doing well in unicorn breeding

A unicorn is a privately held startup company with a current valuation of US$1 billion or more.

S’pore’s got two: Grab (the mobility platform that wants to conquer SE Asia) and Trax (Computer vision technology for use in retail industry: FT builds tools for bricks-and-mortar retail)

Whatever, we are doing pretty well in unicorn breeding. We’ve got two, while Japan has only three.

But then Indonesia has four  Go-Jek, Tokopedia, Traveloka, and Bukalapak.

Go-Jek is a mobility platform that also wants to rule SE Asia. Tokopedia and  Bukalapak are e-commerce businesses Traveloka provides airline ticketing and hotel booking services online.

SingTel, Hong Leong will get digital bank licences

MAS to issue up to five new digital bank licences: SM Tharman

Constructive, nation building media

It’s a nap that two of the licences will go to SingTel (or a SingTel jv) and Hong Leong Group

SingTel or a jv led by it will get one of the two digital full bank licences, which will allow licensees to provide a wide range of financial services and take deposits from retail customers. The focus of a SingTel bank will be regional remittances via its regional network of telcos. Think of all the Peenoy and Indon maids who remit money via remittance firms.

Grab or Go-Jek could decide to try to cut a deal with SingTel, rather than apply for a virtual bank licence themselves because they can bring to the party a regional presence via their apps etc. But SingTel may be too greedy to do a jv. I suspect the authorities will make SingTel tie up with Go-Jek or Grab. But the other co will not be left out in the cold (see below) because I think the authorities want competition here between the two and because Temasek has stakes in both: Temasek, GIC got this right in our backyard. Related post: Offered money, Grab it

Hong Leong group will get one of the up to three digital wholesale bank licences, which will allow licensees “to serve SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and other non-retail segments”. Hong Leong Finance is a de facto SME bank though people like Inderjit Singh and Jack Sim are not happy with the way it does biz, and are forever KPKBing for really cheap financing for SME owners, even though it’s a fact that SME owners often divert biz loans to buy property.

Grab, Go-Jek and Razor will try for the other virtual bank licence, though I think they’ll have to find a S’porean partner because

Companies headquartered in Singapore and controlled by Singaporeans will be able to apply for digital full bank licences.

Foreign companies who wish to apply must form a joint venture with a Singapore company, the authority added. The joint venture must meet the headquarter and control requirements. Digital wholesale bank licences are open to all companies.

I’m sure they will try to get M1 owned by Keppel and SPH to partner one of them.

But as I said for Grab and Go-Jek working with SingTel could be a better bet if SingTel is not too greedy. The other could then tie up with M1.

As to Razer? Razer? Who the f@#! is Razer?

 

 

 

 

Offered money, Grab it

This seems to be the philosophy of Southeast Asia’s biggest ride-app company.

Grab has received an additional US$300 million investment from asset manager Invesco as part of plans to raise $6.5 billion in total capital this year.

“The additional investment in Grab takes Invesco’s overall total to US$703 million and re-affirms its belief in Grab’s vision and plan for the region,” Grab said in a statement on Jun 27.

Softbank-backed Grab said in April that it was looking to raise another US$2 billion this year to ramp up expansion, weeks after announcing more than US$4.5 billion of funding in Southeast Asia’s largest round of private financing.

Seems most of the money with go to developing fintech and insurance, not subsidise rides. Well it did out-subsidise Uber until the latter cried “Uncle”, pulled out of the region and took a stake in Grab in recompense. Grabbed Uber’s balls, Grab did.

HoHoHo: Bad news for Go-Jek and Grab

Uber’s shares sank almost 8 per cent below their offer price on Friday, giving the ride-hailing company a disappointing market value of below $70bn — a far cry from the $100bn valuation it had until recently hoped to achieve.

FT today

Meanwhile Lyft which was valued at U$22.4bn at its IPO closing price (up 9% from its offer price). By May 7th, the day it reported results for the first quarter as a public company, it was worth only US$17bn. Lyft’s share price fell by another 11% the next day.

These performances have

left investors questioning the appetite for unprofitable car-booking companies that have relied on a flood of private capital to fund heated expansion and competition.

FT

As Economist says

Both firms have enough cash to continue to burn money for years, but public investors expect a rapid path to profitability. Making it into the black will require either raising prices or reducing the cut of bookings passed on to drivers. The former will be hard; in many markets ride-hailing competes with other cheap modes of transport, such as buses, bicycles and riders’ own cars.

Think Grab and Go-Jek, and Temasek that has invested in them. Grab and Go-Jek are also losing money.

Btw, in 2018 according to an article in the Tiền Phong newspaper, GIC realised a 60% loss over 4 years after it sold 5.4 million shares in Vietnamese taxi operator Vinasun.

 

Either go Grab or Gojek

Southeast Asia’s apps-for-everything will dominate in 2019. Cash is being lavished on Grab and Go-Jek, as they dabble in everything from ride-hailing to groceries. It’s a Chinese approach to luring and keeping consumers who are moving online fast.

The region from Myanmar to Indonesia is one of the world’s fastest-growing internet markets, with cheap smartphones, low connection costs and improving data speeds. On average, according to a 2018 study by Google and Singapore’s Temasek, Thai users spent almost five hours online daily – more than three times their Japanese counterparts.

[…]

Part of the reason is the transformation of Grab and Go-Jek into apps-for-everything, along the model of China’s Meituan Dianping, is to keep consumers coming back for payments, rides, massages and takeouts, among other things.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-grab-gojek-breakingviews/breakingviews-superapps-will-starve-the-rest-in-southeast-asia-idUSKCN1OW02F

LTA should grab Grab’s balls or Gojek

Seriously the A-Rabs have come up with something interesting that we should copy asap.

On Christmas eve, it was announced that Dubai is to launch a company with Careem, the regional rival to Uber, to manage the ride-hailing system for all taxis operating in Dubai, the Gulf’s S’pore.

The Dubai authorities said this would be the world’s first partnership between a government regulator and a private ride-hailing app. Dubai, like other regulatory authorities, has clashed with fast-growing ride-hailing companies challenging the dominance of traditional taxi services.

Careem said

— it would have a 49% in the joint venture, which would manage e-hailing systems and online payments for almost 11,000 taxis; and

— the venture could be expanded to include other transportation services, such as buses, as Dubai seeks to extend its regional leadership in technology innovation of government services.

If Grab refuses to play ball with LTA, LTA should try Gojek.

Why Grab can give finger to S’pore govt

(Update on 9 October 20180 at 10am: Microsoft has invested in Grab. Amt is reported to be US$200.)

S’pore mkt is irrelevant to Grab.

SoftBank will soon increase its commitment to Grab by pouring an additional $500m into the south-east Asian ride-hailing company, after the Singapore-based firm announced it is looking to raise about $1bn before the end of the year.

FT

Remember

Singapore’s competition watchdog has fined Grab and Uber a total of S$13 million over their merger, saying that the deal has led to the substantial eroding of competition in the ride-hailing market.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/grab-uber-fined-after-merger-deal-competition-watchdog-10751522

And this is a lot of bull

The fall from grace of “digital darling” Grab serves as a cautionary tale for digital disruptors, after its Uber takeover left riders and drivers up in arms over price hikes and lower incentives.

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/fallen-grace-grab-could-learn-hard-way-if-it-does-not-change-its-ways-report

But what to expect from constructive, nation-building media?

Allah also against Uber?/ Our “religion”

In Indonesia Uber “has been outmanoeuvred by Go-Jek’s Go-Car, launched in 2016” says the FT.  It’s also ahead of Grab, co-founded by a cross-wearing M’sian Christian, now living in S’pore: Real reason why Uber lost to Grab.

Indonesia is impt because it’s 2/3 of the regional market according to the FT. But can Allah help out in other SE Asian countries?

Excluding Vietnam (Jesus and Buddha), M’sia (Allah got competition with Jesus, Buddha, Guan Ying, our Harry and the Hindoo gods), the Philippines (Jesus and Durterte), Singapore (Hard Truths) and Thailand (Buddha) have varying prohibitions on motorbike ride-hailing, Go-Jerk’s strength (Allah likes motorbikes?), FT points out.

 

Real reason why Uber lost to Grab

God was on the side of the cross-wearing, humble Grab co-founder.

The first thing you notice about Anthony Tan is that he wears a big silver cross around his neck …

He credits his strong belief system for much of his success, and even in his language, the word “serve” comes up numerous times.

“If there’s any one thing I would love that people remembered me for would be hey, Anthony… was a true servant leader,” he told me in his offices in downtown Singapore.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43667202

God actually didn’t have much of a choice in deciding to help Grab. After all, on the other side was Uber, a  company that seemed to want parody and mock Google’s “Do no evil” moto by deliberately “Doing evil”.

It

— employed a felon to monitor a driverless car that killed a pedestrian,

— used illegal software to secretly “fix” its competitors, regulators and its drivers,

— used thuggish tactics to intidimate its competitors, regulators and its drivers,

— illegally obtained the medsical reports of a lady who alleged a Uber driver raped here with the intention of using the info to discredit her,

— tried to outspend its rivals hoping to bankrupt them (Didn’t work in US of A, and it lost in Russia, China and SE Asia, and

— treated female staff as playthings.

Meanwhile Grab’s co-founder prayed to God.