The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore announced on Wednesday it has not received notification from ride and delivery companies Grab or GoTo regarding a proposed merger. The commission is aware of discussions about a potential merger between the two companies and advised that the parties should ensure that any proposed merger complies with Singapore's competition laws.
The commission expressed openness to engage with the parties through their merger notification and pre-notification discussion processes, as stated in an email sent to Reuters. Grab, headquartered in Singapore and supported by Uber, and its smaller Indonesian counterpart GoTo have been in talks about a potential merger.
GoTo clarified on Wednesday that no agreement had been reached with any party regarding a potential transaction, following reports from Bloomberg News that Grab had initiated due diligence to acquire GoTo.
If the merger were to happen, Grab and GoTo would jointly hold a market share of nearly 90% in Singapore and over 91% in Indonesia within the ride-hailing sector.
In 2018, the CCCS fined a total of S$13 million ($9.76 million) when Grab failed to report its merger with Uber, leading to diminished competition in Singapore. Last year, Grab withdrew its proposed acquisition of Trans-Cab, the third-largest taxi operator in Singapore.
The commission mentioned its authority to impose penalties of up to 10% of a company's business turnover in Singapore for each year of violation, up to a maximum of three years if a company breaches competition laws. It also highlighted that it could issue directions to address adverse effects resulting from a merger, potentially including reversing the merger if necessary, and impose interim measures to safeguard market competition.
Grab declined to comment on rumors or speculation, while GoTo stated that it had no further comment beyond its recent disclosure to the stock exchange.
Following these developments, GoTo's shares in Indonesia fell by 2.4%, a drop compared to the domestic benchmark stock index, which increased by 1.5%.
(Exchange rate: $1 = 1.3318 Singapore dollars)