** #2 Competition watchdog says Ousta’s collapse pushed it to act on Uber, Careem merger: The shutdown of Egyptian ride-hailing app Ousta signaled that the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) needed to keep an eye on the fast-growing industry, ECA head Emir Nabil said at a press conference on Monday, according to AMAY. “There is a trend in the ride-hailing apps sector away from competition, as evidenced by the collapse of Ousta,” said Nabil. He also noted that both Careem and Ousta had filed antitrust complaints against Uber, claiming the global industry leader was trying to force a price war. The merger of Careem and Uber, which is could be worth as much as USD 2.5 bn, has the potential to hurt mns of users as well as the drivers who work for these companies, he added.

Nabil said both companies acknowledged that merger talks were happening, but claimed the ECA acted when neither Uber nor Careem disclosed details on the transaction talks (shocking that they may want to negotiate a transaction behind closed doors, we know…). The ECA had recently issued a warning to Uber and Careem that they could face fines of EGP 500 mn each unless they formally seek an ECA exemption from the Antitrust Act.

ECA trying to calm market on its push to regulate M&A: “The ECA does not want to stand in the way of M&As, but it must take steps if the risks of an M&A to the market are too high,” said Nabil. We’re taking that as a bid to calm fears that the ECA was using the Uber, Careem merger as a lever to gain more control over mergers and acquisitions. The ECA has been trying for the past two years to amend the Antitrust Act to give it sign-off powers on all M&A worth more than EGP 100 mn.

In other ECA news, the authority is planning to look into the spike in potato prices, which has been driving the country hysterical of late. A working team has been formed to study pricing in the market. Nabil also noted that the ECA was cooperating with the UN on a new antitrust legal and policy research center in Cairo, which will launch on 19 November, according to Youm7.

Speaking of spuds: Potato prices were still getting air time last night. Nabil, as well as cabinet spokesperson Nader Saad and Consumer Protection Agency head Reda Abdel Moaty phoned into various talk shows last night to discuss the issue (watch here, runtime: 12: 39, here, runtime: 7:44, here, runtime: 2:24, and here, runtime: 2:15). Amr Adib also took note on El Hekaya (watch, runtime: 2:17).