Uber agrees on $15 billion deal to acquire Germany's Delivery Hero

Uber will buy Germany's Delivery Hero for $14.8 billion to expand Uber Eats globally and strengthen its position against DoorDash and Just Eat

Uber agreed on Thursday to ??buy Germany’s Delivery Hero at an equity value of $14.8 billion to create the largest food-delivery group outside China and stave off intensifying competition from US and European rivals. 

The acquisition advances the US ride-hailing firm’s efforts to build a global food-delivery business that can better compete with Just Eat, owned by Dutch group Prosus, and US rival DoorDash, which has been expanding aggressively. 

It is likely to face a complex regulatory process as the combination would create a platform spanning 99 countries with combined ​pro-forma gross merchandise value (GMV) of $236 billion in 2025, according to a statement ​by Delivery Hero. “Together, we’ll nearly double the number of markets where we offer both mobility and delivery services,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in the joint statement. 

 

Uber, already Delivery Hero's top shareholder, has made the acquisition conditional on a minimum acceptance threshold of 50 per cent plus one share. 

The transaction, supported by Delivery Hero's management and supervisory board, is expected to be completed in the second half of next year. The €41.50 per-share offer represents a roughly 34 per cent premium to Delivery Hero's three-month volume-weighted average share price, it said. It was 9 per cent above Wednesday's close, but nearer 40 per cent above the “undisturbed” price before any deal talk started. 

Shares in Delivery Hero were up about 1.2 per cent at 1141 GMT, while Uber gained 1 per cent in US pre-market trading. The ​deal would expand Uber Eats across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America but is expected to face antitrust scrutiny because of overlapping operations. 

To ease those concerns, Delivery Hero will sell operations in ‌14 markets to US investment firm SSW Partners for about €1.4 billion. Major shareholder Prosus has also agreed to sell its nearly 17 per cent stake, leaving little room ​for a rival bid. Jefferies analysts, however, said the expected timing of the deal's completion signalled a “long slow march” ahead.