The German food delivery group Delivery Hero has denied a report that talks to sell part of its Foodpanda business in Southeast Asia had collapsed, helping shares recover some of their earlier losses on Friday.
“There are market rumours that the negotiations for the potential sale have collapsed,” Berlin-based Delivery Hero said in a statement. “We confirm that the negotiations for the potential sale are ongoing.”
The Malaysian newspaper New Straits Times reported earlier on Friday that talks to sell the Foodpanda brand in several Southeast Asian markets to Singapore-based rival Grab Holdings had fallen through, citing people familiar with the matter.
A Grab representative declined to comment.
Delivery Hero’s shares were down 9% to €19.56 on Friday afternoon in Frankfurt, after falling as much as 13% earlier. That marked the biggest intraday decline since February 2022.
Delivery Hero’s business in Asia, its largest market, has stagnated since pandemic-era lockdowns eased. In September, the company said it was in talks to sell the Foodpanda brand in countries including Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.
Meituan of China is also exploring a potential acquisition of Foodpanda in these markets, Bloomberg reported in November.
Founded in 2010, Meituan has become the largest food delivery platform in China. It operates in more than 2,800 cities and counties in the world’s second-largest economy. The tech giant in May started KeeTa, a new food delivery brand, in Hong Kong.
Meituan’s expansion into Southeast Asia would present a challenge for Grab, the ride-sharing, food-delivery and fintech company that has quickly become a leader in the region.
The Singapore-based company last year reached profitability on an adjusted basis for the first time, and Meituan would be a much bigger competitor than Grab’s current regional rivals.
- Note: This is an updated version of an earlier story that was headlined 'Talks to sell Foodpanda to Grab collapse'