Foodpanda could be sold in Singapore  and other markets; report cites Grab as potential buyer

GERMANY-BASED Delivery Hero is in talks for a potential sale of its foodpanda business in Singapore and six other South-east Asian markets. A media report had cited Grab as a potential buyer.

On Thursday (Sep 21), Delivery Hero confirmed that it is in negotiations to sell foodpanda’s businesses in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. The negotiations were earlier reported by business magazine Wirtschaftswoche.

The publication also cited Grab as a potential buyer. The Singapore-based mobility company could pay over one billion euros (S$1.46 billion) for the acquisition, the report said.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Singapore, foodpanda was acquired by Delivery Hero in 2016. It operates across 11 markets in Asia-Pacific, after exiting Japan last year. (See *Amendment note)

When contacted by The Business Times, foodpanda would only say that the discussions with several parties are still in the “preliminary stages”, declining to provide further details.

Grab declined to comment on the matter. A spokesperson for the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore said the statutory board has not received any filing of notification on the potential deal.

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The development comes as food delivery companies globally face growing pressure to turn profitable. A regulatory filing of foodpanda’s Singapore entity shows a loss of S$42.7 million in FY2022 ended Dec 31, on the back of S$256.7 million in revenue. The company had previously laid off staff, citing a “critical need” to cut costs.

But the company had doubled down on its South-east Asian business in recent months, striking partnerships with the operator of Cold Storage for grocery delivery and ride-hailing service Tada.

In a recent interview, foodpanda’s Singapore chief executive Lawrence Wen said the company is “cautiously optimistic” in a tough year, but is still seeking to expand its delivery rider base in Singapore where it has more than 10,000 gig workers.

*Amendment note: A previous version of this story said that foodpanda operates in 12 markets. This has since been corrected to 11.