SINGAPORE: Ride-hailing firm Grab insisted Friday its takeover of Uber’s businesses in Southeast Asia has not substantially eroded competition in Singapore after a threat from the city-state’s anti-monopoly watchdog to reverse the deal.
The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) earlier this month threatened to overturn the deal and called for changes to be made as it infringed competition rules.
Grab — Southeast Asia’s dominant ride-hailing firm, operating in eight countries – said it has submitted a written response to the commission defending the transaction.
“Grab disagrees with the CCCS finding that the Grab/Uber deal has led to a substantial lessening of competition,” the company said.
It said some of the measures proposed by the commission were “unwarranted” but vowed it would continue to cooperate with the watchdog in their ongoing review.
Singapore-headquartered Grab in March agreed to buy Uber’s ride-hailing and food business in Southeast Asia, ending a bruising battle between the ride-hailing companies.
A relevant piece published earlier: Taxi service Uber has decided to get bigger in Pakistan by investing $500 million to grow its operations in the country, the company said on Saturday. It was announced during a meeting the Uber team and the Chairman Federal Board of Investment, Dr. Miftah Ismail. The ride-hailing behemoth will invest the money to help expansion by 2020. “We will continue to work closely with the government as Pakistanis benefit from reliable, affordable and safe transportation like Uber,” said Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, Uber’s Head of Europe, Middle East, and Africa. “Pakistan is a key market for Uber which is why we are channeling significant investment to the country,” he added. The service has covered six cities of the country since its launch in the Pakistani market back in 2015. The additional investment is aimed at assisting growth in the driver partner network, expanding in more cities, creating more economic opportunities, and the enhancement of Uber’s customer services program. (Published on 13th May 2017)
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