BERLIN, July 16 (Reuters) – Uber on Thursday launched a public takeover offer for Delivery Hero that values the German food delivery company at around $14.8 billion, as part of the U.S. ride-hailing firm’s efforts to widen its food delivery network abroad.
Uber, which has made the acquisition conditional on a minimum acceptance threshold of 50% plus one share, will offer €41.50 ($47.58) in cash per share.
Acquiring Delivery Hero would widen the Uber Eats food-delivery network in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, but would also attract attention from antitrust regulators given the overlap in the companies’ presence.
Shares in Delivery Hero were up around 5.7% in premarket trading in Frankfurt after the announcement.
The offer represents a roughly 34% premium on Delivery Hero’s three-month volume-weighted average share price prior to the takeover announcement, said the company.
Shares in Delivery Hero closed at €38.18 on Wednesday.
As part of the agreement, Delivery Hero has agreed to sell part of its business covering 14 markets to U.S.-based investment firm SSW Partners for about €1.4 billion.
Delivery Hero on Tuesday confirmed it was in advanced negotiations with Uber regarding a potential takeover offer.
Major shareholder Prosus has agreed to sell its stake of just under 17% in the food delivery company, according to Uber.
Including derivatives, Uber had already secured a stake of just under 37% in Delivery Hero.
($1 = 0.8722 euros)
(Reporting by Hakan Ersan and Miranda MurrayEditing by Mark Potter and Tomasz Janowski)
