Grab’s bid to buy foodpanda ASEAN unit falls through – Delivery Hero says it has terminated discussions

Delivery Hero has announced that talks between it and Grab over the sale of its foodpanda Southeast Asian business to the latter have ended, Business Times reports. In a statement, the German multi-national online food ordering and food delivery company said it had terminated discussions on the potential sale, without naming any parties.

This comes following weeks of speculation on whether the deal would be struck. Earlier this month, it was reported that Grab’s bid for the foodpanda’s Southeast Asian business had fallen through, with the talks having collapsed due to issues concerning pricing. This was then denied by Delivery Hero, which said that negotiations for the potential sale were still ongoing.

In its announcement, the Berlin-based company said that at the start of the month, it remained optimistic that it would reach agreeable terms to ink a deal. “At that time, the company believed it had reached an alignment with the potential buyer on the fundamental terms regarding the sale of the business. However, Delivery Hero took the decision to withdraw from negotiations as this is no longer the case,” its statement read.

News of the potential sale first emerged last September, when German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche reported that Delivery Hero was in negotiations to sell the foodpanda brand in the region to Grab for more than one billion euros (RM5.1 billion).

While its Asia business – which covers Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos – is Delivery Hero’s largest market, growth has dropped since pandemic lockdowns eased, and the company was said to be looking to focus on profitability following years of heavy investment.

Delivery Hero said it remains open to mergers and acquisitions and will continue to assess potential strategic alternatives, but added that it will only proceed with negotiations where there is a high certainty of closing a deal.

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