The Grab acquisition of Uber’s Southeast Asia operations hasn’t quite made a full transition. Originally, the deal – which was announced last month – was to have seen Uber’s ride-sharing and food delivery business integrated into Grab’s existing platform in eight regional markets on April 8, with Uber deactivating its app then.
The transition hasn’t been completed – while Uber shut down its business in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Malaysia on schedule yesterday, it remains operational in Singapore and Phillipines under the order of local authorities, which are reviewing the deal.
In Singapore, the country’s competition watchdog is looking into the merger, The Straits Times reports. The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) said it believes aspects of the deal infringes the Competition Act, and demanded that Uber remaining operational until April 15 as it decides on its next move.
The CCCS has also proposed interim measures to preserve competition as it continues investigating. These include making Grab and Uber maintain independent pricing, pricing policies and product options as they were before the sale. If these measures are imposed, both companies would not be able to take action leading to the integration of the businesses in the republic, the report added.
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the country’s anti-trust regulator has done the same thing. Over the weekend, the Philippine Competition Commission said both companies should keep their operations separate and refrain from making further moves toward completing the transaction as it reviews the deal, the Nikkei Asian Review reported.
Again, interim measures are being imposed, though here it’ll apply well past mid-April. The PCC said that Uber’s app should remain accessible to passengers during the course of the review. Though the order didn’t indicate a deadline, this could take as long as 195 days, depending on the findings of regulators.
The commission said it rejected Grab and Uber’s arguments, which said that interim measures laid down by the PCC were unnecessary – Uber said that it had already effectively left the region and lacks the manpower and resources to operate.
Grab, meanwhile, had said there are plenty of transport options in the country. In its argument, it said that new competitors will still be able to enter the Philippine ride-hailing business, of which 80% of these is likely to be controlled by Grab once the deal closes.
The primary reservations about the deal concerns its potential development into a monopoly, which could lead to fare hikes as well as lower incentives for drivers.
In Malaysia, the government has said that it has yet to run any investigations on Grab, as the e-hailing service provider has not committed any offence under the Competition Act 2010, The Malaysian Reserve reports. Minister in the prime minister’s department Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said the government is convinced that the merger will not affect the local e-hailing scene, but added that it would take action if there are any wrongdoings.
“At present, there is nothing to investigate. We have alerted our officers to monitor complaints on any fare hike or any other wrongdoings,” she told the publication last week.
The cost of Grab’s purchase of Uber’s SEA business was not disclosed, but Uber will be given a 27.5% stake in Grab and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will join Grab’s board.
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“At present, there is nothing to investigate. We have alerted our officers to monitor complaints on any fare hike or any other wrongdoings.”
Not enuff money for these 2 countries to go thru. Just a matter of time.
These two countries not enough money? Are you living in a hut? Travel around mossy.
One country has highest fines in the world, the other has highest ‘ehem’ in the world. Yes, both country needs the money even thou they stand at extreme ends on economic scale.
As usual, the local authorities tak boleh harap one. It’s obvious it’s anti-trust in nature.
There are other e-hailing operators operating in Malaysia too & you can’t force a company which has been bleeding for years to still operate. If you think that the Grab fare is going to be expensive, there are taxi services as an alternative or why don’t you operate your own e-hailing app.
If Uber wanna sellout, then what to do? Force Uber to stay in business forever and continue incur losses? Who wud wanna do business in SG & PH then?
Hey chicken liverjohn. There are more competitors in the ride hailing businesses in Singapore and the Philippines. This is despite the fact that Grab is the biggest player in both these markets. Also, Philippines is getting investments amounting to US$25 billion a year. Singapore has quite a lot more business there too.
Only those who cant argue well resort to insult. Read properly lah. If the competitors were up to snuff then theres no problem for the regulators to let thru the deal. Problem is, these countries have little competition, unlike in MY and Indo, deswai their regulators r scrambling to ensure no monopoly. But its just a matter of time its sold. Uber will do anything to get out and stop the losses.
John. I think you dont get what Gary is saying. He is saying that there is more competition in Singapore and the Philippines than is expected. I agree that there are many ride sharing platforms and a much bigger market share in the Philippines than Malaysia, as i have been living there for 3 years now. Not too sure about Singapore.
SG dun have many. And their teksimen dun use apps. All becoz theirs is too tightly regulated. If theres too many competition, then why worry of anti-competitiveness? Dun make sense right?
As a rider it’s a loss of a viable alternative. As a full time driver, i wish them good luck. Grab is well known to ban drivers under ‘suspected gaming’. When ask for further clarification no answers given. Many drivers are fed up of Grab that simply suspend or ban for frivolous reasons like picking up from the same location very often.
Should have only exit when the MRT completed by 2025. Losing money is nonsense excuse as they can both just stop giving out promo codes. Guess we just have to wait till 2030 for autonomous vehicle revolution where fares will be 90% cheaper than now.
Effective immediately this week, the weekly driver trip bonus goes from RM300 for 150trips to Zero!!!!!!! If Grab monopolies the Malaysian Market, the Fare and driver incentives will be just like other monopoly business(Astro, TM, Proton, Sugar and many others.
once grab is in a monopoly position, they will bully both drivers and riders.
Good news
Unlikely other countries should also review the standard procedure to allow a monopoly industry in this type of e-hailing services many u uber riders are unhappy over this matter as most of uber riders are from other countries where uber had been serving. As it unfortunate to say many people doesn’t really like about Grab.