Sidley advised Grab Holdings Ltd. (“Grab”), Southeast Asia’s leading superapp, on its strategic investment in Vay Technology GmbH (“Vay”), a remote driving technology company.
Grab will make an initial investment of approximately US$60 million, subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. Subject to the achievement of financial and operational milestones, regulatory approvals, and other conditions, Grab will increase its equity interest in Vay with an additional US$350 million investment within the first year following closing.
Vay offers an affordable on-demand car rental service enabled by remote driving technology. Grab’s investment enables Vay to scale and expand its operations in the U.S., while enhancing Grab’s mobility offerings and accelerating its autonomous and remote driving expertise in the long term. With operations across eight Southeast Asian countries in over 800 cities, Grab has a proven track record of commercializing large-scale on-demand mobility businesses.
The cross-practice and cross-jurisdictional Sidley team was led by partners Marcus Klie, Björn Holland, James Lu, and Nicolai Schwarz-Gondek as well as Counsel Thomas Komanek. The wider team included Valentin Specht, Ufuk Erdal Genc, Philipp Barlet, Sarah Braun, Tobias Bachmeier, Chloe Lustig, and Antonio Gutierrez (Private Equity/M&A); David Stewart (Capital Markets); Madeline Clasen (Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation); Adam M. Raviv (Environmental, Health, and Safety); James Mendenhall (Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy); Christian Axhausen and Christoph Jensen (Global Finance); Cathryn Le Regulski and Emily M. Wajert (Labor, Employment and Immigration); Sheri Porath Rockwell, Matthias Bruynseraede, and Sasha Hondagneu-Messner (Privacy and Cybersecurity); and Corinna Linhardt and Jörg Fischer (Tax).
