Back to the complete issue
Tuesday, 25 September 2018

Singapore fines Uber and Grab for merger

Singapore competition watchdog fines Uber and Grab: Singapore’s Competition and Consumer Commission fined ride-hailing companies Uber and Grab with a combined USD 9.5 mn on Monday as their merger earlier this year was blamed for driving prices up, Reuters says. Effective fares on Grab rose 10-15% after Uber Technologies Inc sold its Southeast Asian business to regional rival Grab in March for a 27.5% stake. Uber said it may appeal the decision.

Our own competition watchdog is taking note: You can expect the Singapore ruling to enter the arsenal of the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA), which has repeatedly warned Uber and regional rival Careem against merger talks. The two sides are in talks on a transaction that could be worth as much as USD 2-2.5 bn. The ECA had used a previous ruling against the Grab-Uber merger by the Singapore competition watchdog to warn Uber and Careem.

In other ride-hailing merger news,Careem has acquired Indian bus shuttle service app Commut Bloomberg reports. The report did not mention the size of the acquisition.

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.