The Philippine anti-trust body slapped Grab Philippines and Uber with P16-million fines for allegedly violating key provisions of the Interim Measures Order during the merger review of the two transport service providers.
It said the IMO was issued to the parties to maintain pre-transaction conditions to prevent any action that may prejudice Philippine Competition Commission’s ability to review the merger or to impose appropriate remedies.
“The IMO is a mechanism that protects the integrity of the PCC review and adjudicatory process. It requires full compliance by both Grab and Uber and these fines reflect their deficiencies and violations. Undue difficulties generated by the parties become efficiency challenges in PCC’s review process,” PCC chairman Arsenio Balisacan said.
The two parties were collectively fined P4 million for failure to keep their businesses separate. It also penalized both Grab and Uber for their failure to delay Uber’s assumption of a board seat in Grab during the review period.
Grab, on its own, was found liable to pay the penalty of P8 million for failure to maintain the conditions before the transaction, such as pricing policies, rider promotions, driver incentives and service quality. Uber, as the acquired party, was fined P4 million or half of Grab’s fine for the same set of violations.