Just Eat Takeaway’s owner Prosus is selling its stake in Delivery Hero to appease EU competition concerns.
Uber has bought a 4.5% stake in German rival Delivery Hero from Just Eat Takeaway owner Prosus for about 270 million euros (£235.4 million), in a move to increase its holding in the European food delivery firm.
San Francisco-based Uber will up its stake in Delivery Hero to about 7%, after it previously snapped up about 300 million US dollars (£222.1 million) of shares in the group in May 2024.
Uber has recently announced plans to grow its Uber Eats business across Europe this year, to boost bookings, which comes amid consolidation in the fiercely competitive European food delivery market.
US firm DoorDash bought Britain’s Deliveroo chain for £2.9 billion last year.
Uber’s acquisition of the further stake in Delivery Hero also helps Dutch firm Prosus fulfil conditions set by the European Commission for its buy-out of Just Eat Takeaway.
Amsterdam-based Prosus, a technology firm which is majority-owned by South Africa’s Naspers, completed the takeover of Just Eat last October, but it was required to reduce its Delivery Hero shareholding to appease competition concerns.
Prosus is selling 13.6 million shares in Delivery Hero for 20 euros each (£17.43), which will cut its holding from 26.3% to 21.8%.
The sale price is 22% higher than the one-month average of Delivery Hero’s stock, but below the 20.14 euro (£17.55) level at Thursday’s market close.
“Prosus remains committed to completing the sale of the remainder of its stake in Delivery Hero within the required regulatory timeframe, with the objective of maximising shareholder value,” the firm said.
It must reduce its holding to single digits by August this year to address EU regulator concerns.
Delivery Hero does not operate its brand in the UK, having agreed to sell its UK business, Hungryhouse, to Just Eat in 2016.
