Grab Holdings Ltd. is set to acquire a controlling 60 percent stake in buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider Atome Financial for $1.49 billion, expanding the Singapore-based superapp’s consumer lending business across Southeast Asia.

The deal will combine Atome Financial’s BNPL loans, consumer cash loans, BNPL cards and digital lending operations with Grab’s financial services business. Atome operates in the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand and has served 25 million cumulative transacting users.

Accelerate expansion in consumer lending

Grab president and chief operating officer Alex Hungate said the transaction would allow the company to accelerate its expansion into consumer lending in the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. Grab already offers its own BNPL products in Malaysia and Singapore.

“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,” he said.

The transaction is expected to close by the third quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions.

Grab will acquire the remaining 40 percent of Atome about two years after the initial transaction. 

The second acquisition will be based on Atome’s actual performance, using a valuation formula tied to adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and revenue. The resulting equity valuation will have a floor of $2 billion and a ceiling of $4.5 billion.

Of the initial $1.49-billion payment, $260 million will be provided as primary growth capital for Atome.

Grab gains access to Atone’s consumer lending platform

The acquisition gives Grab access to Atome’s consumer lending platform instead of requiring it to develop its own lending infrastructure in the three markets where it does not yet have a comparable BNPL presence.

Grab chief financial officer Peter Oey said the transaction is funded entirely from the company’s existing cash and is expected to be accretive to Group Adjusted EBITDA upon completion.

“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,” he said.

“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 percent Group revenue CAGR from 2025 to 2028,” he added.