Grab is buying control of one of Southeast Asia’s largest buy-now-pay-later lenders. The Singapore superapp signed definitive agreements to take a 60% stake in Atome Financial for $1.49B, with $260M of that earmarked as primary growth capital for the business.
Closing should land in the third quarter of 2027, provided regulators sign off and no other conditions intervene. Once closed, Atome Financial’s results fold into Grab’s financial services segment, and the lender’s current leadership stays on to run the operation.
The lender operates as the digital financial services division of Advance Intelligence Group. Chairman and CEO Jefferson Chen runs that parent company. Customers across Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore can take buy-now-pay-later credit and cash loans. BNPL cards and other digital lending products round out the offer. The company counts 25 million cumulative transacted users, a gross loan portfolio near $1B, and a merchant roster of more than 30,000 brands.
A second agreement, struck with AIGL and the other holders on the register, moves the final 40% to Grab around two years after the first deal closes. That price is unfixed; it will follow Atome Financial’s performance over the six months before the second close. The blend weights adjusted EBITDA at 13x annualised (75%) and revenue at 2.5x (25%). The resulting equity value cannot fall below $2B or rise above $4.5B. Cash would cover at least half of that second payment.
Scale in lending is the point. Fintech is one of three main verticals at Grab and the only one still losing money, so a bigger loan book is central to getting the group to sustained profit. Management has put a 2028 marker on the division: $500M of adjusted EBITDA and a loan book north of $6B once Atome’s balances are folded in.
