KARACHI: The Competition Commission of Pakistan has approved the acquisition of a majority stake in online grocery platform KRRAVE by a unit of global mobility services provider inDrive, saying the deal is unlikely to harm competition.
The CCP authorised the transaction after a Phase-I review under the Competition Act 2010. Cyprus-based Suol Innovations Limited, part of the inDrive Group, acquired the shares in Singapore-incorporated KRRAVE Technologies Pte Ltd through call option agreements with multiple shareholders. The deal had already been completed before approval and was therefore reviewed under the regulator’s ex-post merger authorisation framework.
The target company owns KRRAVE Technologies (Pvt) Limited, which operates KRRAVE Mart, an online grocery delivery platform currently serving customers in Karachi. The commission defined the relevant market as e-commerce B2C grocery delivery platforms in Karachi and found no horizontal or vertical overlap between the parties, noting that the acquirer operates mainly in mobility and logistics services.
It concluded that the transaction is unlikely to create or strengthen a dominant market position or substantially reduce competition. The regulator also noted that the parties completed the deal before obtaining the required pre-merger clearance and directed them to ensure compliance with merger regulations in future transactions.
