- GeneralM&A
- January 29, 2021
- 3 minutes read
UK Probes Uber’s Autocab Acquisition
The UK’s antitrust agency is back again with another probe into an American tech company looking to tie up with…
The UK’s antitrust agency is back again with another probe into an American tech company looking to tie up with one of its own, this time Uber’s acquisition of Autocab, a startup that develops booking and dispatch software for taxi operators. Uber reached a deal to buy Autocab in August 2020 for an undisclosed sum.
Now, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said that it’s investigating Uber’s proposed acquisition of Autocab to see if it’ll result in “substantial lessening of competition” in the UK transport market. Given that Autocab is based in the UK, opposition from the country’s antitrust agency could sour Uber’s proposed acquisition.
As it works, the UK’s antitrust agency has begun the first phase of its investigation into Uber’s Autocab deal. It’ll then conduct its probes and decide if it’ll proceed into a second and final phase of its investigation. Under stipulated laws, a company facing the first phase of investigation could tweak the terms of its deal that’s being probed to fall in favor and compliance with the agency.
In the second phase, the UK’s antitrust agency will decide whether to block a deal or require divesture of certain parts of the deal. In Uber’s case, it’ll announce the decision from its first phase of investigation and whether it’ll proceed into a second phase on the 26th of March.
Autocab represents Uber’s first-ever proposed acquisition of a UK company. The UK is a major market for Uber, but one that it’s faced headwinds in and seen its license to operate there come under scrutiny a few times.
