HANOI, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade decided to conduct a preliminary investigation into GrabTaxi's purchase of Uber's stakes in Vietnam in suspicion of breaching regulations of the country's Law on Competition 2004, Vietnam News Agency reported on Monday.

The investigation, conducted by the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA) under the ministry, will take 30 days.

Following GrabTaxi's announcement on March 26 about its purchase of Uber operations in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, the VCA sent a dispatch to GrabTaxi requesting the provision of information and documents related to the acquisition.

However, GrabTaxi claimed that the combined market share of both Grab and Uber in Vietnam is less than 30 percent, so it does not have to inform the competition authority before proceeding and completing this transaction in Vietnam.

The VCA held a working session with GrabTaxi's legal representative on April 6, but the ride-hailing firm failed to give evidence proving its claim.

Other Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia, are requesting a detailed explanation of GrabTaxi's acquisition of Uber operations out of concern about the risk of Grab's monopoly in the market.

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