Uber's Acquisition Of Careem Gets Nod, With Conditions

(RTTNews) - Egyptian Competition Authority or ECA said Sunday that it has approved Uber Technologies Inc's pending acquisition of Careem after a long conflict over the merger deal with the authority.

In March, Uber announced the purchase of Dubai-based Careem.

The ECA said in a statement that the two companies must abide by a number of obligations and controls before completing the acquisition.

The decision comes months after the authority had rejected the merger deal on the grounds that the two companies had not received prior permission from the authority.

The controls imposed by the ECA aim at ensuring the availability of a competitive environment, preserving the rights of consumers, passengers and drivers, and owners of small and medium-sized companies, and enhances opportunities for expansion for current and potential investors.

ECA specified that the controls include setting a maximum service fees from drivers that does not exceed the current 22.5 percent for the Uber X service and 25.5 percent for Careem-Go services.

The ECA added that the Uber is committed to not exclusively tying the Uber and Careem services to each other and also committed to not pricing the Uber Bus products at a price lower than the predatory pricing to ensure market growth and the survival of competitor companies.

The authority said it would appoint monitoring trustees to ensure Uber's compliance with the new controls, which will be renewed automatically for a total period of five years or until an effective entry into the market.