MANILA, Philippines – Berlin-based Delivery Hero, the parent firm of delivery app and services Foodpanda, last Wednesday, September 20, confirmed “negotiations regarding a potential sale of its Foodpanda business in selected Southeast Asia markets covering Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.”

The firm made its confirmation following a report by German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche, which wrote that it is working on a “partial withdrawal” from Asia, and named rival Grab as a potential buyer at a price of “more than one billion euros” in the aforementioned Asian countries. Markets in Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Pakistan, and Taiwan would remain with Delivery Hero for the time being, the report added.

After initially dismissing the report as “market rumors,” Delivery Hero would soon issue a confirmation, adding, “The negotiations are in their preliminary stages and it is uncertain and subject to various open points whether this will lead to a definitive agreement. The purchase consideration for the entire transaction is still under negotiation.”

A few days later after the Germany report, CNBC reported Foodpanda had conducted a new round of layoffs, its third since layoffs in September 2022 and February 2023. The site also said that it reached out to Grab regarding potentially buying Foodpanda, but the company declined to comment.

In an internal letter to employees from Foodpanda’s Asia-Pacific CEO Jakob Angele, he said, “Our company priority right now is to become leaner, more efficient and even more agile.” – Rappler.com