Vietnamese authorities to probe Grab-Uber deal again

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam’s authorities plan to conduct further investigations into the merger of Grab and Uber last year over possible antitrust regulations violations, said the Ministry of Industry and Trade on February 13.

The Competition Council announced that after examining documents and working sessions with relevant parties, it had discovered a number of new details related to possible violations of competition law in Grab’s acquisition of fellow ride-hailing platform Uber last March.

These discoveries prompted the council to return the case dossiers to the Ministry’s Competition and Consumer Protection Department for further investigation. The investigation is expected to run until April this year.

Last year, Grab announced its acquisition of Uber’s operations in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam.

In Vietnam, the investigation into Grab and Uber’s merger was initiated in May 2018.

The Competition Council in December 2018 announced Grab’s acquisition of Uber had signs of violations in terms of failure to notify market regulators of its purchase of Uber. The deal was also thought to have threatened Vietnamese taxi companies by cutting their market shares and changing customer habits.

Notably, competition authorities have said the combined market share between Grab and Uber in Vietnam exceeded 50 percent, which breaches regulations under the country’s Law on Competition 2004.

According to the ministry, if the concentrated market share of parties accounts for 30 to 50 percent in the market without announcement before their acquisition, the firms will be fined 10 percent of their total revenue in the previous financial year. If the figure exceeds 50 percent, the transaction will be prohibited from being completed.

However, Grab claimed that it had acted legally and that the competition authorities have misinterpreted the scope of relevant markets when calculating the market share.

Vietnam is 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 Grab and Uber for eroding competition.-VNS/VNA