The filing made by Altimeter Growth Corp., the special purpose acquisition company Grab will merge with for its United States listing, disclosed some interesting information. This includes the proposed share ownership and voting structure post-IPO, pursuant to which Grab’s founders will hold “Class B” shares amounting to only 3.3 percent of the total shares but are entitled to 60.4 percent of the voting rights.

The differentiation of share classes allows the weighted voting rights structure to be adopted by this Singapore-based company and ensure its founders hold the majority voting rights despite share dilution.

The adoption of share classes is common in private companies in Indonesia. Many of them have share classes in their capital structure to allow for preferential treatment, including voting rights, for certain shareholders.

The conventional arrangement of one share one vote is no longer deemed suitable for companies in rapidly changing industries that demand quick decision-making processes. It is gradually being replaced with an arrangement of weighted voting rights, pursuant to which one share can have more than one vote.

Despite being a prevalent practice for private companies, it is peculiar to see Indonesian public companies with share classes in their capital structure. To date, Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) only accommodates the adoption of share classes for publicly listed state-owned companies (SOEs) by allowing the Indonesian government to hold dwiwarna (two-colored) shares in those SOEs.

The dwiwarna shares carry certain privileges and veto rights on essential aspects of the companies, such as amendment of articles of association and appointment of members to the board of directors, to enable the government to retain its control.

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