This week brought a busy run of corporate news across the region.
Southeast Asia’s largest superapp lifted its full-year outlook and unveiled a fresh buyback, while one of Singapore’s big three lenders agreed to sell its four-decade-old fund management arm.
Elon Musk’s newly listed rocket and satellite group delivered its first set of results as a public company, and a Singapore hospitality trust struck a sale-and-leaseback deal for a co-living property in the city centre.
Grab’s One-Off Gain And Buyback Lift Full-Year Guidance
Grab Holdings (NASDAQ: GRAB) reported net profit of US$235 million for the second quarter of 2026 (2Q2026), up sharply from US$20 million a year ago.
The jump was driven largely by non-operating items, including a US$307 million one-off gain from the consolidation of Indonesia’s Superbank in June, partly offset by a US$183 million increase in fair-value losses on financial assets and liabilities.
Underlying trends were also encouraging.
Revenue rose 22% year on year (YoY) to US$997 million while adjusted EBITDA climbed 54% to US$168 million, lifting the margin to 16.9% from 13.3%.
On-demand gross merchandise value grew 21% to US$6.46 billion, supported by a 17% rise in monthly transacting users to a record 53.9 million.
The group raised its 2026 revenue guidance to between US$4.10 billion and US$4.15 billion, up from US$4.04 billion to US$4.10 billion, and its adjusted EBITDA outlook to US$720 million to US$740 million.
Its board also authorised a further US$750 million of share repurchases, taking total buybacks approved since 2024 to US$1.75 billion.
UOB Exits Asset Management In S$555 million Deal
United Overseas Bank (SGX: U11), or UOB, announced on 5 August 2026 that it would sell UOB Asset Management to Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI) for S$555 million.
The sale, which includes excess cash, is expected to generate a pre-tax gain of around S$330 million for the lender.
Excluding one-off transaction costs, it should also lift UOB’s Common Equity Tier 1 (CET-1) ratio by an estimated 14 basis points.
The net asset value attributable to the divested stake stood at S$223 million on an unaudited pro forma basis as at end-2025.
The franchise being sold spans eight Asian markets and had S$42 billion of assets at the close of 2025, with all 500 employees transferring to the buyer.
Alongside the sale, the two parties have agreed a long-term distribution partnership giving UOB clients access to AllianzGI’s global product suite.
Chief executive Wee Ee Cheong said the tie-up sharpens the bank’s focus on wealth advisory across its network of more than eight million retail clients in ASEAN.
