Grab Co-founder Set to Increase Voting Rights with Nasdaq Listings

Malaysian tech entrepreneur Anthony Tan, who is Grab Co-founder, looks all set to increase his control over Grab when the Southeast Asian Tech Group joins Nasdaq later this year. In a move that will be the envy of his Silicon Valley peers, the Grab co-founder will have 60.4 percent voting rights in the company.

Remarkably, he just owns a 2.2 percent stake in the company. The feat is comparable to that of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and unprecedented for a deal involving a special purpose acquisition company. The holdings would be laid out in a particular manner.

The filings revealed that the company, whose super-app offers a vast variety of services including ride-hailing, delivery, and financial services has reported potential violations of anti-corruption laws to the US Department of Justice. Proponents say that Ten needs control of the company to quickly and judicially take decisions on navigating Grab’s eight markets.

But his grip on the SoftBank-backed company’s direction marks the first time a Spac deal has entrenched a founder’s voting rights to this degree. The company’s associates are not impressed by the decision as they feel such a majority voting right for a chief executive of the company which is seeking a SPACs route is unprecedented. The same got confirmed by a team of experts.

“While it is not unusual for high tech companies seeking a listing to entrench management shares with additional voting rights, a 60 percent absolute majority will be the first in the market,” said Robson Lee, a partner at law firm Gibson Dunn in Singapore. Other experts also share Their Hands on the topic, although they might not have more knowledge on the dealings.