Taipei, Taiwan – Uber Technologies and Delivery Hero SE have reached an agreement for Uber to acquire Delivery Hero’s foodpanda delivery business in Taiwan for US$950m in cash. The acquisition of foodpanda Taiwan is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions and is targeted to close in the first half of 2025. 

Separately, the companies have also entered into an agreement for Uber to purchase US$300m in newly issued ordinary shares of Delivery Hero.

Until closing, Delivery Hero is dedicated to continue operating foodpanda Taiwan as before, offering the best possible service for its customers and vendors. In the period following closing, foodpanda’s local consumers, merchants, and delivery partners will be transitioned to Uber Eats.

The deal will combine Uber’s global expertise in operating a high-efficiency marketplace with foodpanda’s extensive coverage across Taiwan and its relationships with beloved local brands. The deal will also give consumers greater choice across food types and price points by bringing the complementary groups of merchants on Uber Eats and foodpanda onto a combined platform.

Moreover, due to its existing presence in Taiwan, Uber is best placed to build upon the significant local operations developed by Delivery Hero and foodpanda over the past years, and invest further into an improved experience for consumers, merchants, and delivery partners.

Niklas Östberg, CEO and co-founder of Delivery Hero, said, “The strength of our Taiwanese business is a testament to the hard work of many teams over the last eight years. In order to build a world-leading service, we have come to the conclusion that we need to focus our resources on other parts of our global footprint, where we feel we can have the largest impact for customers, vendors and riders. This deal gives foodpanda an exciting runway in Taiwan and we wish them all the best in their next chapter.”

Meanwhile, Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, senior vice president of delivery at Uber, commented, “Bringing together our distinct customer bases, merchant selections, and geographic footprints will allow us to deliver more choices and the best prices for consumers, stronger demand for restaurants, and more earnings opportunities for delivery partners. Taiwan is a fiercely competitive market, where online food delivery platforms today still represent just a small part of the food delivery landscape. We’re so excited about the opportunity to deliver even greater convenience and value that this transaction would unlock in the years ahead.”

Once completed, this deal would be one of the largest ever international acquisitions in Taiwan, outside of the semiconductor industry. It is worth noting that Delivery Hero SE previously confirmed the sale of select foodpanda businesses, albeit the only confirmation they had was for their SEA businesses.

Singapore – Online food delivery platform foodpanda has announced the appointment of John Fang as its new CEO to lead and grow the business in the APAC region. 

Fang will succeed Jakob Angele, former foodpanda CEO for APAC who served for nine years in the company, six years of which as the CEO. 

In his new role, he will continue to lead and grow foodpanda’s business, staying focused on bringing value and purpose to the food and grocery delivery ecosystem that foodpanda serves. 

Fang has been with foodpanda for six years, taking various leadership roles since he joined in 2017. He served as CEO for foodpanda Taiwan in 2017 and most recently held the position of chief international officer at Delivery Hero, where he managed business operations across foodpanda’s 11 markets.

Prior to joining foodpanda, he also served as the chief operations officer for global e-commerce marketplace Groupon Taiwan.

Fang’s appointment comes weeks after Delivery Hero, foodpanda’s owner company, announced that it will be selling foodpanda’s activities in select markets in Southeast Asia. 

Singapore – Global food delivery company Delivery Hero, has confirmed that there are negotiations regarding the potential sale of its subsidiary brand, foodpanda, within select markets in Southeast Asia. 

In a statement, the company plans to sell its activities under the foodpanda brand in Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand.

The negotiations are currently in their preliminary stages and it is still uncertain and subject to various open points whether this will lead to a definitive agreement. The purchase consideration for the entire transaction is still under negotiation.

Regarding this news, media sources report that it caused shares in foodpanda to lift as much as 13.5%, with Delivery Hero focusing on reaching profitability while maintaining growth as investor confidence in the company started to wane after a pandemic-driven boost.

Just recently last month, Niklas Oestberg, CEO of Delivery Hero, notably said that Asia was the segment where the company saw the most opportunity to invest.

As of current, potential buyers of the business are still unconfirmed and undisclosed by the Delivery Hero Group. However, several news outlets claim to report that tech platform and super app provider Grab could pay the equivalent of as much as a billion euros for the unit.