LONDON/FRANKFURT, May 28 (Reuters) – Uber has raised its stake in Germany’s Delivery Hero to nearly 37% from 25% after buying a stake from fellow shareholder Aspex Management, according to regulatory filings and two people close to the matter. The deal with Aspex comes as Uber is working on a new bid to take over […]
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Uber raises stake in Delivery Hero ahead of fresh bid, sources say
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LONDON/FRANKFURT, May 28 (Reuters) – Uber has raised its stake in Germany’s Delivery Hero to nearly 37% from 25% after buying a stake from fellow shareholder Aspex Management, according to regulatory filings and two people close to the matter.
The deal with Aspex comes as Uber is working on a new bid to take over the German food delivery company following an indicative €33-per-share ($38.29) proposal on Saturday, two separate sources said on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks are private.
Delivery Hero declined to comment.
Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shares in Delivery Hero fell 3.6% to €37.93 per share by 0751 GMT.
Uber now holds a total of 36.83% in Delivery Hero – 24.99% in common shares and the rest linked to derivative instruments – compared with 25.1% previously, the filings in Germany published late on Wednesday show.
A separate regulatory filing showed Aspex has almost halved its stake to 7.56% from 14.55%, while the remaining stake will be transferred at a later date.
Delivery Hero confirmed on Saturday it had received an indicative proposal from Uber valuing the company at €33 per share. The German group’s CEO Niklas Oestberg said last week he would step down, following campaigns by several large shareholders for a strategic review.
The FT had reported that Uber’s board met on Saturday to discuss raising its offer after its initial approach was rebuffed.
(Reporting by Amy-Jo Crowley and Christoph Steitz; Additional reporting by Echo Wang and Samuel Indyk; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Anousha Sakoui and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)