TASHKENT, Uzbekistan – Podrobno.uz. The Competition Development Committee of Uzbekistan has approved the acquisition of online classifieds platform OLX by Tapuz Limited, a company belonging to the TBC Bank group.

The buyer, registered in the UAE, will acquire 100% of the operator's stake in OLX Classifieds LLC.

In reviewing the application, the regulator noted that the TBC Bank group already owns a digital bank and the Payme payment service in Uzbekistan. Since both OLX and Payme hold dominant market positions, the committee imposed several mandatory conditions to protect consumer interests and maintain competition.

Specifically, new owners are prohibited from unreasonably influencing the platform's terms of use through other group products, as well as using competitors' commercial data to restrict market activities.

Additionally, the company is not allowed to force users to exclusively use Payme or TBC Bank services for payments on OLX and must ensure equal conditions for all competing payment systems.

The regulator determined that if these requirements are met, the deal will not create monopoly risks, as the buyer was not previously present in the country's online advertising market.

It is worth recalling that OLX was recently officially recognized as a dominant market operator in Uzbekistan.

Source: podrobno.uz