After Temasek Holdings’ S$642 million vanished into thin air following the sale of Uber to Grab, the government’s Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) said that it is “illegal” under Singapore law for the two companies to merge and threatened to “unwound” the merger:
“Under Singapore’s competition law, mergers that may result in significantly lesser competition are prohibited. In the event CCS finds that a merger situation is expected to result in an SLC (substantial lessening of competition), CCS has powers to give directions to remedy the SLC. We can require the merger to be unwound or modified. We can also issue interim measures prior to the final determination of the merger.”
The threat by the Singapore government however only means that Uber will pull out from Singapore.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) also objected to the private commercial deal, and said it will first “study” the impact:
“We will ensure that no one single market player dominates the sector to the detriment of commuters and drivers. We note that the Competition Commission of Singapore has the power to review any merger or acquisition that might affect competition in any market in Singapore.”
Grab bought over Uber’s South East Asian businesses today (Mar 26) with a 27.5% stake in Uber.
The owner of ComfortDelgro is Temasek Holdings, whose CEO Ho Ching is the wife of the Prime Minister.