Indonesia – Indonesia’s Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) has fined Singapore-based Trusty Cars Ltd 1.5 billion rupiah (US$91,883) for missing the deadline to report its acquisition of a stake in PT Mitra Pinasthika Mustika Rent (MPMRent).

Doing business as Carro in Southeast Asia, the company invested US$53.8m in June 2022 to acquire a 50% stake in MPMRent, aiming to provide MPMX with a complete ecosystem, including an online marketplace, financing, rentals, repairs, and aftersales services in Indonesia.

According to a LinkedIn post by Deswin Nur, KPPU’s head of bureau for public relations and cooperation, Carro was required to notify KPPU within 30 days of the transaction becoming legally effective, with a deadline of July 12, 2022. However, Carro submitted its notification on July 28, 2022, twelve working days past the deadline. 

The penalty was imposed after KPPU considered mitigating factors, including Carro’s acknowledgement of the violation and its request for reduced administrative sanctions.

Additionally, Carro cooperated throughout the trial and has no prior violations. The acquisition was also deemed free of monopolistic or unfair competition risks.

Jakarta, Indonesia – Southeast Asian automotive marketplace platform, Carro, has invested US$53.8m to become a 50% shareholder of Indonesian consumer automotive and transportation company MPMX’s car rental arm MPMRent.

This investment will see Carro providing MPMX with an end-to-end ecosystem for consumers in Indonesia, including an online marketplace, financing, and rental, as well as repair, and aftersales.

The move is part of MPMX’s continuous effort to unlock the value of existing businesses, as well as invest in innovation and accelerate its digital transformation. Through this, Carro will be bringing its fully integrated online ecosystem from car marketplace to financing, big data, AI access to a fast-growing vehicle database, and relevant computer vision and pricing algorithms technologies. 

As a result, MPMRent will now be able to solidify its leading market position as the leading regional car rental company in SEA, providing access to a rapidly growing network of workshops, strategic nationwide rental and auction locations, and a profitable and diversified customer base, as well as strong operational capabilities.

Suwito Mawarwati, MPMX’s group CEO, commented that they are pleased to announce the agreement with Carro, and they are also grateful for the support and active role of their parent shareholder, Saratoga, in realizing this partnership.

He further shared that the company and Saratoga believe that Carro is an excellent partner that would be able to add strategic value to the business of MPMX through its standing track records of success and operational experiences in a fully-integrated online automotive ecosystem.

“This is an important and exciting next chapter for MPMRent whereas this partnership will create a one-of-a-kind integrated online and offline automotive ecosystem in Indonesia that offers a complete product and services offering for our customers using the marketplace, from rental and financing to insurance serving B2B and B2C markets,” said Mawarwati.

Meanwhile, Aaron Tan, CEO of Carro, noted that they remain steadfast and committed to investing and advancing their business in Indonesia despite the uncertain global macro environment. 

“We look forward to partnering with MPM to supercharge growth and transform the customer’s experience through the hundreds of engineers and data scientists across the CARRO Group,” said Tan.