Grab’s acquisition of Uber is coming under further scrutiny. (Photo: laodong.com.vn)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam’s authorities plan to conduct furtherinvestigations into the merger of Grab and Uber last year over possibleantitrust regulations violations, said the Ministry of Industry and Trade onFebruary 13.
TheCompetition Council announced that after examining documents and workingsessions with relevant parties, it had discovered a number of new detailsrelated to possible violations of competition law in Grab’s acquisition offellow ride-hailing platform Uber last March.
Thesediscoveries prompted the council to return the case dossiers to the Ministry’sCompetition and Consumer Protection Department for further investigation. Theinvestigation is expected to run until April this year.
Lastyear, Grab announced its acquisition of Uber’s operations in Southeast Asia,including Vietnam.
InVietnam, the investigation into Grab and Uber’s merger was initiated in May2018.
TheCompetition Council in December 2018 announced Grab’s acquisition of Uber hadsigns of violations in terms of failure to notify market regulators of itspurchase of Uber. The deal was also thought to have threatened Vietnamese taxicompanies by cutting their market shares and changing customer habits.
Notably,competition authorities have said the combined market share between Grab andUber in Vietnam exceeded 50 percent, which breaches regulations under thecountry’s Law on Competition 2004.
Accordingto the ministry, if the concentrated market share of parties accounts for 30 to50 percent in the market without announcement before their acquisition, thefirms will be fined 10 percent of their total revenue in the previous financialyear. If the figure exceeds 50 percent, the transaction will be prohibited frombeing completed.
However,Grab claimed that it had acted legally and that the competitionauthorities have misinterpreted the scope of relevant markets when calculatingthe market share.
Vietnamis not the only country where Grab has come under fire in Southeast Asia.Singapore in September last year announced a fine of 9.5 million USD on Graband Uber for eroding competition.-VNS/VNA
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