Pricing unicorn secondaries a smoke-and-mirrors game

Singapore

OPACITY is the name of the game in the private markets, and perhaps more so when it comes to unicorn secondaries. There is no standard price discovery mechanism for these deals, so buyers and sellers rely on publicly-disclosed valuations as a gauge.

Secondaries of super-app player Grab, for instance, have reportedly been sold at discounts of between 10 and 30 per cent to the firm's recent US$14 billion valuation, The Business Times understands.