Grab to buy 60% of Atome Financial for USD $1.49bn

Grab has agreed to acquire a 60% stake in Atome Financial for USD $1.49 billion in cash, gaining control of a consumer lending business that operates in five Southeast Asian markets.

The transaction covers Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, where Atome Financial offers buy now, pay later loans, consumer cash loans, cards and digital lending. Grab will fund the deal entirely from existing cash. After completion, Atome Financial will be consolidated into Grab's Financial Services segment.

Atome Financial serves 25 million cumulative transacted users, while Grab's wider platform has nearly 54 million monthly transacting users. The combination would bring together Grab's payments, digital banking, lending, insurance, mobility and deliveries businesses with Atome Financial's consumer credit offering and merchant network.

Under the terms, Grab will pay USD $1.49 billion for the controlling stake, including USD $0.26 billion of primary growth capital in the first phase. In a second phase, roughly two years after the first closing, Grab would acquire the remaining 40% under a valuation framework linked to Atome Financial's performance, with an equity valuation floor of USD $2.0 billion and a cap of USD $4.5 billion.

The proposed acquisition remains subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions. Grab expects the first phase to close by the third quarter of 2027. Atome Financial's management team is expected to remain in place.

Strategic fit

Consumer lending has become a bigger focus for regional technology groups seeking new revenue streams beyond transport and food delivery. For Grab, Atome Financial provides an established consumer lending platform that adds to a financial services operation spanning digital banks, partner lending and insurance.

The companies overlap geographically but differ in product focus. Grab has built lending products for driver-partners and merchants, while Atome Financial has focused on instalment payments and consumer borrowing. That creates scope for cross-selling to users and merchants across both networks.

Atome Financial also brings a merchant base of more than 30,000 brands. For Grab, that creates another channel to sell financial products, while Atome gains access to distribution through Grab's app-based ecosystem across Southeast Asia.

Grab presented the deal as part of a broader push to deepen financial inclusion in a region where large parts of the adult population remain unbanked or underbanked. It said 68% of driver-partner borrowers in 2025 accessed formal credit for the first time through Grab, and half said they did so to avoid predatory lenders.

"Atome Financial's leading use of AI to underwrite digital lending to millions of users across the region, while managing risk effectively, will help to scale and strengthen Grab's whole ecosystem. The proposed transaction accelerates the growth and profitability of our financial services segment by deepening our consumer lending capabilities and unlocking opportunities for us to serve Atome's large merchant network. In 2025, 68 percent of driver-partner borrowers accessed formal credit for the first time through Grab, with half noting they did so to avoid predatory lenders. By coming together, we can deliver on our common vision of using technology to responsibly extend financial access to the unbanked and underbanked in the region, to drive Southeast Asia forward," said Alex Hungate, President and Chief Operating Officer of Grab.

Financial targets

The acquisition also feeds into revised medium-term targets. Grab now expects its Financial Services segment, including Atome Financial, to generate adjusted EBITDA of USD $500 million by 2028 and to hold a combined gross loan portfolio of more than USD $6 billion.

It also raised its group target for 2028 to USD $1.7 billion in adjusted EBITDA and expects group revenue compound annual growth of more than 30% from 2025 to 2028. The transaction is expected to be accretive to group adjusted EBITDA once completed and will not affect Grab's existing share repurchase programme.

Atome Financial's current gross loan portfolio stands at about USD $1 billion, according to Grab. It added that delinquency rates have improved or remained stable across borrower cohorts and that the loan book has been managed with prudent loss provisioning.

That credit performance is central to the deal rationale. Grab said Atome Financial's underwriting systems, combined with data from Grab's own ecosystem, should help it extend more consumer credit while maintaining tighter control over credit risk and over-indebtedness.

"Atome Financial gives us a proven consumer lending operator and an established merchant base, letting us scale our Financial Services segment significantly faster and more cost-efficiently than building it ourselves. The transaction is funded entirely from our existing cash, is expected to be accretive to Group Adjusted EBITDA upon completion, and does not affect our ongoing share repurchase program. Subject to closing timelines, we expect Atome Financial, along with the rest of our Financial Services segment, to generate an Adjusted EBITDA of $500 million by 2028 with a combined gross loan portfolio of over $6 billion. We also revise up our Group 2028 targets to $1.7 billion in Adjusted EBITDA and over 30% Group revenue CAGR from 2025 to 2028," said Peter Oey, Chief Financial Officer of Grab.

Atome background

Atome Financial is part of Advance Intelligence Group and includes the Atome brand and Kredit Pintar, an Indonesian digital lender. The business has expanded over eight years as buy now, pay later products and unsecured consumer credit have gained ground across Southeast Asia.

Its chairman and chief executive officer said the deal would extend its reach beyond existing users and merchants.

"We founded Atome Financial eight years ago on a simple conviction: everyone deserves access to responsible credit and financial services, not just those with a conventional banking history. Over eight years, we've built a sustainable and reliable financial services platform serving millions of customers across five markets. Powered by AI and data, every transaction makes our underwriting smarter and our products more personalised. With Grab's ecosystem, and our proven AI-powered lending infrastructure, we can extend that to millions more across Southeast Asia who've been left out - and together, do more to close the financial inclusion gap than either of us could alone," said Jefferson Chen, chairman and chief executive officer of Advance Intelligence Group and Chief Executive Officer of Atome Financial.