Singapore's ComfortDelGro to buy 51% stake in Uber unit for $218 mn

Singapore's ComfortDelGro Corp said on Friday it is buying a 51 percent stake in private hire vehicle fleet owner Lion City Holdings from Uber Technologies' unit Mieten B.V. for S$295 million ($217.99 million) in cash, in a bid to tackle local rival Grab.

Lion City Holdings owns Lion City Rental, which runs a fleet of 14,000 vehicles.

The island-state's biggest taxi operator said in a statement that the deal would create the opportunity for its drivers to receive ride requests on the Uber driver application, while letting users of the Uber application book a ComfortDelGro taxi directly.

The deal, which ComfortDelGro will fund using existing resources, comes to fruition after the company disclosed in August it was in exclusive talks with Uber for a potential tie-up that was seen as a move that could help Uber compete with the dominant Singaporean ride-hailing firm Grab.

The announcement came after trading hours on Friday, with the company's shares ending the day 1.6 percent lower while the overall market closed over 1 percent higher.