Grab Holdings is acquiring a 60% controlling stake in Atome Financial for $1.49 billion in cash, expanding its consumer lending footprint across Southeast Asia. The transaction gives Grab immediate control of a BNPL and digital lending platform with 40 million individual consumers across five markets.
Atome operates buy-now-pay-later services, cash loans, credit cards and installment lending in Southeast Asia. Grab's Financial Services segment generated adjusted EBITDA in the low hundreds of millions in recent years; the Atome acquisition is part of a broader push to scale that business to $500 million in adjusted EBITDA and a gross loan portfolio exceeding $6 billion by 2028.
The deal includes a call option for Grab to acquire the remaining 40% of Atome roughly two years after closing, with a valuation cap of $4.5 billion on the entire company. That structure values the initial 60% stake at roughly $894 million on a fully diluted basis, with the option priced to account for potential growth in Atome's loan book and user base over the interim period.
Grab simultaneously raised its consolidated 2028 financial targets to $1.7 billion in adjusted group EBITDA and 30% or higher revenue compound annual growth rate from 2025 through 2028. The company had previously guided for lower group EBITDA; the upward revision shows confidence that Financial Services will deliver outsized returns as consumer lending scales across its platform.
Atome was founded in 2019 and has grown to operate in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. The platform serves both consumers seeking flexible repayment terms and merchants seeking point-of-sale lending solutions. Grab competes with Fintech players including Kredivo and traditional regional lenders in a market where BNPL adoption has accelerated since the pandemic.
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. Grab will consolidate Atome's results into its Financial Services segment upon completion. Regulatory review in Southeast Asia typically takes 6 to 12 months for consumer finance deals of this size, with authorities in Singapore and Malaysia holding approval authority over cross-border lending platforms.
Grab's Financial Services segment has been a strategic priority since 2022, when the company entered digital lending. The Atome deal marks the largest acquisition in that effort, delivering scale faster than organic growth would allow. If Grab achieves its 2028 targets, Financial Services will represent roughly 29% of group adjusted EBITDA, up from less than 20% today based on public guidance.
