Business
Grab-Uber merger violates competition law, says state agency
  • By Nguyen Manh | dtinews.vn | May 17, 2018 09:51 AM
The Vietnam Competition Authority confirmed that the acquisition of Uber's Southeast Asia business by Grab violates the Law on Competition as the market share gain exceeds fifty percent.


  

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The Vietnam Competition Authority under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said they had worked with the involved parties and collected information from various associations and state agencies to gauge the market shares. The results show that the market share gained after the acquisition is above fifty percent which creates a monopoly and violates the Law on Competition issued in 2004.

They are considering starting an official investigation and transferring the case to Vietnam Competition Council for punishments after the investigation ends.

Starting from 11.59 pm on April 8th, Uber officially stopped its operations and closed all offices in Vietnam. The Vietnam Competition Authority under the Ministry of Industry and Trade launched a thirty day investigation for potential monopoly.

Grab replied that after the acquisition, its market share in Vietnam would still be less than thirty percent. According to this, Uber and Grab did not have to notify the authority before completing their transaction.

According to the Law on Competition, if a company gains thirty to fifty percent of the market share after an acquisition or merger and without informing the authority, they will be fined ten percent of the revenue of the previous year. If the market share gained after the acquisition is over fifty percent, it may be banned.

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