Whether the merger would eliminate competition in Singapore will be the focus of government review, a spokeswoman for the Land Transport Authority said. Malaysia's Land Transport Authority issued a similar statement, saying it "will work closely with relevant consumer and various regulatory agencies such as the Malaysia Competition Commission to safeguard passengers from unfair terms".
SINGAPORE: Singapore's competition watchdog said on Friday that it had reasonable grounds for suspecting competition had been infringed by the agreed deal by ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc to sell its Southeast Asia operations to rival Grab.
The Competition Commission of Singapore has commenced investigation into the transaction and proposed interim measures that will require Uber and Grab to maintain their pre-transaction independent pricing, it said in a statement.
Uber and Grab announced the deal on Monday, marking the U.S. company's second retreat from an Asian market. - Reuters
Below is the statement issued by the Competition Commission of Singapore on Friday:
Measures Directions in Order to Preserve and/or Restore Competition and Market Conditions
30 March 2018
The Competition Commission of Singapore (“CCS”) has commenced an investigation on 27 March 2018 into the un-notified[1] transaction between Grab Inc. (“Grab”) and Uber Technologies, Inc. (“Uber”) (collectively, the “Parties”) for the sale of Uber’s Southeast Asia ride-hailing business to Grab in exchange for shares in Grab (the “Transaction”[2]).
1) CCS has reasonable grounds for suspecting that section 54 of the Competition Act (Cap. 50B) (the “Act”) has been infringed by the Transaction due to substantial lessening of competition in relation to the chauffeured personal point-to-point transport passenger and booking services (“CPPT Services”) market in Singapore.[3]
2) CCS has not completed its investigation, but to preserve and/or restore competition and market conditions in relation to the CPPT Services market to the pre-Transaction state, CCS has issued proposed Interim Measures Directions (“IMD”) to the Parties.
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