Business
Grab acquisition of Uber violates competition law
  • | laodong, dtinews.vn | December 13, 2018 09:53 AM
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has announced the conclusion of the investigation over Grab's acquisition of Uber in Vietnam on December 12.


  

Grab acquisition of Uber violates competition law in Vietnam

The announcement came nearly a month later than the usual 90-day investigation rule. The Vietnam Competition Authority under the ministry completed the investigation into Grab's purchase of Uber in Vietnam on November 18. According to the investigation, Grab failed to notify the authority about the acquisition in accordance with the article 20 in the Law on Competition. The acquisition meant Grab obtained a more than 50% market share which is banned in the article 18 of the Law on Competition.

The case has been transferred to the Vietnam Competition Council. A new council will be set up to deal with the case. In 30 days, the council must announce final decisions which include returning the case for more investigation, suspending the investigation and starting a trial to deal with the case.

On March 26, Grab announced its acquisition of Uber in Southeast Asia. Grab Taxi said its market share in Vietnam would still be less than 30% after the acquisition so they did not have to notify the authority before completing the acquisition.

However, according to the Vietnam Competition Authority, they had worked with Grab Taxi on the next day and Grab failed to provide concrete evidence to back up their claims. They asked Grab to provide more evidence and carefully assess their market share after the acquisition.

According to the Law on Competition, if a company gains 30-50% of the market share after an acquisition or merger and didn't inform the authority, they will be fined 10% of the revenue of the previous year.

If the market share after the acquisition exceeded 50%, it could be banned.

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