Singapore partner pulls out of Vietnam taxi joint venture

By Phuong Dong December 29, 2021 | 07:30 pm PT

ComfortDelGro's taxis are parked at their vehicle inspection yard in Singapore October 9, 2017. Photo by Reuters

Singaporean transport firm ComfortDelGro has decided to sell its entire stake in the Vietnam Taxi Company to a local company and pull out of Vietnam.

Under a deal it has signed, it will transfer its 70-percent stake in Vinataxi to the HCMC-based Helios Service and Investment Joint Stock Company for VND55 billion ($2.4 million).

Vinataxi was established in 1992 by Vietnamese firm Tracodi and Hong Kong company Tecobest Investment, which sold its share to ComfortDelGro in 2003.

The company reported revenues of VND20 billion and a loss of VND7.6 billion in 2020.

In 2018, ComfortDelGro and another local firm, Savico, would up their joint venture, ComfortDelGro Savico Taxi, unable to cope with the fierce competition from tech-based taxi operators.

According to ComfortDelGro, the Vietnamese market fetched revenues of $500,000 in the first half of this year, or less than 0.1 percent of its total revenues.