ComfortDelGro and Uber officially part ways

SINGAPORE — Local transport giant ComfortDelGro has officially parted ways with US ride-hailing company Uber, which exited South-east Asia in late March after rival Grab acquired its regional operations.

In a statement on Friday (May 25), ComfortDelGro said the strategic agreement that it had entered in December last year with Uber has been dissolved. It will also abort plans to acquire the 51-per cent-stake in Uber's wholly-owned car rental subsidiary in Singapore, Lion City Holdings.

Both companies entered into a S$642 million tie-up last year in a bid to take on Grab, and launched a new service called UberFlash to take on their rival's popular JustGrab fixed-fare service.

The nascent partnership, however, stalled upon news of the Grab-Uber deal. 

“The operating environment has changed and the basis on which we were supposed to form the partnership is no longer relevant given that Uber has exited the region," said ComfortDelGro's managing director and group CEO, Mr Yang Ban Seng. "Nevertheless, the Group still has every intention to go into the private hire vehicle space as we see the increasing convergence of private hire vehicles and taxis in the personalised mobility market.”