Uber to sell Southeast Asia operations to rival Grab

Radio taxi major Uber Technologies Inc. has decided to sell its Southeast Asian operations to Grab, exiting from yet another fast-growing market space.

Under the agreement, Grab will acquire all of Uber’s business in a region of 620 million people, including food delivery service UberEats. 

Grab shall be picking up a 27.5 per cent stake in a combined entity and its chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi will join the board of the Singapore-based company. Bloomberg News reported over the weekend that the two companies had finalised a deal.

Grab said in a statement it will take over Uber’s operations and assets in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The cease-fire marks a victory for Grab as well as SoftBank Group Corp., the biggest shareholder in both companies. Masayoshi Son’s firm is pushing to reduce competition in a Southeast Asian ride-hailing market forecast to reach $20.1 billion by 2025.

Uber and Grab, together with two other SoftBank-backed ride-hailing firms -- India’s Ola and China’s Didi Chuxing -- provide about 45 million rides a day, according to SoftBank presentation material in February.