You may deny it, but the recent investment of Uber into the shares of Delivery Hero is kinda historic, especially that Uber is based in the USA, and Delivery Hero is based in Germany.
In the previous Ridesharing Forum story, you learned about this purchase and what it signifies. This time, here’s an in-depth look into the matter. Prepare to hear about financial terms. Take down notes when necessary.
Worth $318 million
On Friday, Uber agreed to buy an additional 4.5 percent of shares of Germany-headquartered food delivery firm, Delivery Hero. Uber bought those from the company’s largest shareholder, Prosus.
Prosus is an international consumer Internet group, and among the globe’s biggest technology investors and operators.
Spun out of Naspers in 2019, another global consumer Internet group, Prosus is the biggest listed consumer Internet company in Europe by asset value. They got investments in not only food deliveries, but also classifieds, payments, fintech, and edtech.
Prosus also operates, invests, and builds businesses in high-growth markets like India, Europe, and Brazil.
The total gross proceeds to Prosus are around $318 million, this company confirmed with ridesharing media.
So, that means Uber is to pay around $25 a share, which is below the closing price of Delivery Hero last Thursday, following a seven-percent rally in the stock. However, Prosus clarified that it is 22 percent premium to the one-month average share price only.
This landmark deal came after Prosus offered a deal to buy JustEatTakeaway.com in 2025. JustEatTakeaway.com is also a food delivery platform based in Europe.
The price then was around a whopping $4.8 billion. But, this acquisition was scrutinized by the European Commission, which stated it would only approve the deal if Prosus significantly cut back its shareholding in Delivery Hero. Business safety matters.
What this deal means
“Prosus remains committed to selling the relevant portion of its stake in Delivery Hero within the required timeframe,” Prosus told Ridesharing Forum last Friday.
So, with this deal, Prosus now owns about 21 percent of Delivery Hero, versus the 27 percent from the JustEat deal, should it had not been scrutinized.
It was in 2024 when Uber first took a stake in Delivery Hero when it purchased newly-issued shares worth $300 million.
Since that scrutiny last year, European regulators are re-considering their approach to mergers within the European Union. It has been rumored that the European Commission is thinking of relaxing its rules around large mergers by giving more focus towards “innovation, investment, and resilience of the internal market” when considering deals.
The competition commissioner on the continent told ridesharing media that the bloc wishes to encourage “pro-competitive mergers,” allowing European firms to “be relevant players in global markets.”
Meanwhile, Fabricio Bloisi, the chief executive officer of Prosus, previously criticized the continent’s approach and rulings on these kinds of mergers and acquisitions.
“We have to change that to create really big companies in Europe,” Bloisi chatted with Ridesharing Forum.
In business history, deals and partnerships like this mean that features could be shared between those two systems. The international can only wait and see. For more of these news, keep tuning in on Ridesharing Forum.