>>> Ministry opens investigation into Grab’s acquisition of Uber
Accordingly, the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s agency will investigate the case in accordance with the provisions of Vietnamese competition regulations. The formal investigation period is 180 days from the issuance of the investigation decision. In cases of necessity, a 60-day extension period would be launched but may not exceed two periods.
Upon the conclusion of the official investigation, the VCA will transfer the case file to the Vietnam Competition Council for handling under local regulations.
Earlier on Wednesday, the VCA issued a formal notice announcing the end of a preliminary investigation over the acquisition, in which the agency announced that it had found signs of violations in the case.
Since the launch of the initial investigation in mid-April, the VCA has worked with investigated parties to collect the relevant market information from specialised associations and State management agencies.
The preliminary investigation has verified the contents related to the investigated parties, the relevant market, and the combined market share of both Grab and Uber in Vietnam. Preliminary results showed that the combined market share exceeds 50%, meaning the case has shown signs of violation of the regulations on economic concentration defined in Section 3 of Chapter II under the under the country’s Law on Competition 2004.
The results of the preliminary investigation have led to the VCA’s Friday decision on a formal investigation as stipulated in Item 2, Article 88 of the 2004 Competition Law.
On March 26, Grab announced its purchase of Uber’s operations in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. Later, Uber Vietnam stated that the company officially stopped operations and closed all offices in the country from 11:59 pm on April 8, which means the transaction between Grab and Uber had already been completed in Vietnam.
