• Chile’s National Economic Prosecutor’s Office (FNE) has authorized Uber to acquire a majority stake in Cornershop;
• The company was waiting for regulatory permissions to acquire the grocery delivery startup since October, when first announced the deal;
• Cornershop still has to wait for the authorization of the Federal Commission on Economic Competition of Mexico (Cofece), the same entity that rejected the merger with Walmart a year ago.

This Friday, 29, global ride-hailing firm Uber has finally received the authorization of Chile’s National Economic Prosecutor’s Office (FNE) to proceed with the acquisition of grocery delivery startup Cornershop, the agency published on its website.

The operation does not substantially reduce competition and, consequently, cannot negatively affect, in terms of access, price, quantity or quality, the conditions of use of the service platforms of the last mile of supermarkets and in the other markets in that the parties in Chile participate.

FNE’s statement

Part of Uber’s plan to expand Uber Eats’ arm, the acquisition was first announced in October, but the regulatory body was studying possible risks to competition by eliminating a potential competitor, given Uber’s attempts to enter online grocery business. “This was finally ruled out, since supermarkets would currently be strongly promoting the development of e-commerce,” FNE stated.

The next steps will involve waiting for the green light from Federal Commission on Economic Competition of Mexico (Cofece), the same entity that rejected the merger with Walmart a year ago.