Antitrust developments and enforcement activity in South-east Asia: April to June 2024

13 September 2024

In this issue of the Competition Law Quarterly, we highlight notable antitrust developments and enforcement activity in South-east Asia which took place in the second quarter of 2024, including the following:

  • Indonesia: The Indonesia Competition Commission has been actively taking enforcement action against potential anti-competitive conduct and abuse of dominance such as:
    • investigating into the causes of recent ticket price increases against seven airlines, including potential anti-competitive behaviour;
    • commencing a trial for alleged bid-rigging conduct against four entities in the research and innovation sector; and
    • enforcement action against PT Shopee International Indonesia and PT Nusantara Ekspres Kilat for alleged discriminatory conduct and exclusionary practices in the market for delivery services on a marketplace platform.
  •  Singapore: The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (“CCCS”) has also been active in its review of potential merger transactions that may lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the market. In particular:
    •  CCCS cleared the proposed acquisition by ANA Holdings Inc. of 100% of the issued share capital in Nippon Cargo Airlines Co., Ltd.;
    • CCCS consulted on the proposed acquisition of new ordinary shares in HG Metal Manufacturing Limited by Green Esteel Pte. Ltd.; and
    • CCCS issued a set of Interim Measures Directions to Delivery Hero SE, Foodpanda GmbH (Germany) and Delivery Hero (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (collectively, “Delivery Hero”) as well as Grab Holdings Inc. (“Grab”), in relation to the possible acquisition by Grab of the whole or part of the business of Delivery Hero in South-east Asia, including Singapore.
  •  Malaysia: The Malaysia Competition Commission provisionally found that eight enterprises had infringed the Competition Act 2010 by alleged bid-rigging conduct for tenders relating to the provision of services for construction works for roads and flood mitigation systems.
  •  Thailand: The Trade Competition Commission of Thailand released two separate decisions relating to an alleged abuse of market power by movie theatre operators for charging transactional fees on total revenue from movie tickets sold through online channels and automatic ticketing machines.

For more, please click here for an overview of notable antitrust developments in South-east Asia during the period of April to June 2024. To see if there has been any enforcement activity in your sector in the second quarter of 2024, please refer to the overview chart here.