Ride-hailing giant Uber is interested in a full takeover of food delivery service Delivery Hero, the Berlin-based company confirmed on Saturday.
The move would mark further expansion of Uber in the European market, shifting its dynamics after the series of deals and exits in recent years.
Uber already holds a fifth of the shares and has access to additional stock. Uber approached the company with an offer of 33 euros per share ($38.30), Delivery Hero said on Saturday in Berlin. This would be less than the shares had cost on Friday.
Delivery Hero’s share price has risen sharply in recent days, partly due to speculation about a possible offer from Uber.
Over the past two weeks, the shares climbed by almost 70% to 33.59 euros at the end of Xetra trading late on Friday afternoon. In after-hours trading, the price rose to 35.50 euros on the Tradegate trading platform. The company is therefore valued at just over 10 billion euros (around $11.6 billion).
Although it is a German company, Delivery Hero has not been operationally active in Germany since selling its business in Germany to Just Eat Takeaway, which operates as Lieferando in Germany.
However, the company is among the world’s largest food delivery services due to its strong presence in Asia, southern Europe, the Arabian Peninsula and Africa.
Uber itself operates a food delivery service with Uber Eats, including in many cities across Germany.
On Monday, Delivery Hero said that Uber now holds 19.5% of Delivery Hero’s issued capital and a further 5.6% in the form of options.
Most recently, Uber had already increased its stake from just over 7% to almost 18%.
Dutch investment company Prosus agreed to reduce its stake in Delivery Hero as part of its purchase of rival Just Eat Takeaway.
