ComfortDelGro's wholly-owned subsidiary, ComfortDelGro S.E.Asia Pte Ltd (CDGSEA), is divesting its 70% stake in a taxi business in Vietnam, announced the company after trading hours on Dec 28.
CDGSEA has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Helios Service and Investment Joint Stock Company to transfer all of CDGSEA’s 70% shareholding in Vietnam Taxi Co (VTCL) to Helios.
The total consideration of the transaction is VND 55 billion, approximately $3,264,147.01.
VTCL is in the taxi business and is a joint venture with Vietnamese company Tracodi. It operates a fleet of over 380 taxis and holds the third largest market share in the taxi sector in the city.
VTCL, also known as Vinataxi, was set up in 1992 as a joint venture between Tracodi and Hong Kong company Tecobest Investment, until Tecobest sold its share of Vinataxi to ComfortDelGro in 2003.
This marks another pullback by ComfortDelGro in Vietnam. Prior to March 2018, ComfortDelGro also had another joint venture with former state-owned enterprise Saigon General Service Corporation (Savico), known as ComfortDelGro Savico Taxi.
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It was established in 2005 and operated over 220 taxis, a call centre, as well as a workshop which repairs and maintains the taxi fleet. Following tough competition with private-hire taxi operators, ComfortDelGro Savico shut down in March 2018 and merged into Vinataxi later that year.
Shares in ComfortDelGro closed 2 cents higher, or 1.45% up, at $1.40 on Dec 28.
