This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on March 29, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) has committed itself to closely overseeing the local ride-hailing market post the merger of Uber with bigger rival Grab in Southeast Asia.

“Together with the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), [we will] ensure that competition in the e-hailing services is not disrupted by the merger between Uber and Grab. Currently, there are many other enterprises which offer e-hailing services,” MyCC said in a statement yesterday.

MyCC added that while it strongly believes in promoting and protecting the process of competition, the commission will not hesitate to intervene if any anticompetitive conduct is found to be disrupting competition in the e-hailing market.

“[Our] role is to safeguard the process of healthy competition among enterprises under the Competition Act 2010,” it noted.

On Monday, Uber said it had agreed to sell its Southeast Asian business to Grab.