Uber has struck a deal to take control of the African delivery operations of Glovo and Talabat as part of a €14.8bn ($16.9bn) takeover of Germany’s Delivery Hero, sharply expanding its footprint in some of the world’s fastest-growing food delivery markets.
The San Francisco-based company said on Wednesday that it had agreed a voluntary cash offer of €41.50 a share for the Frankfurt-listed group, which operates local delivery brands across more than 60 countries. To address antitrust concerns in markets where the two groups already compete, Delivery Hero has simultaneously sold a package of 14 businesses to New York investment firm SSW Partners for about $1.6bn.
The carve-out clears the way for Uber to retain operations in 50 markets, including all of Glovo’s African subsidiaries — Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Tunisia and Uganda — and Talabat’s large Egyptian business. SSW will take over Glovo’s European operations in Spain, Portugal, Poland, Romania and Moldova, along with assets such as Turkey’s Yemeksepeti, Greece’s efood and Austria’s foodora.
Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s chief executive, said the combination would “extend affordable, reliable delivery to many millions more people in many of the world’s most dynamic economies”. He noted that the deal nearly doubles the number of markets where Uber offers both ride-hailing and delivery services, broadening the base for its cross-platform strategy.
The African units bring Uber a large and youthful customer base in cities where rising smartphone penetration and a growing middle class have fuelled demand for on-demand delivery. In Egypt, Talabat is one of the dominant platforms, while Glovo has built positions in key sub-Saharan cities including Nairobi, Lagos and Casablanca. The acquisitions will put Uber in more direct competition with regional players such as Bolt Food, as well as with local start-ups and informal delivery networks.
Under the terms of the transaction, SSW Partners will independently manage the 14 businesses it is buying, with a mandate to find strategic buyers or partners for those assets. The structure allowed Uber to sidestep potentially prolonged merger reviews in Europe, where its Eats business overlaps heavily with Glovo, while preserving the most attractive developing-market operations.
Uber held a near-25 per cent direct stake in Delivery Hero before the announcement and has additional economic exposure through derivatives. Prosus, the Amsterdam-listed technology investor, has committed to tender its roughly 17 per cent holding, which would take Uber’s total economic interest to about 53 per cent. The offer is conditional on a minimum acceptance threshold of 50 per cent plus one share and on customary regulatory clearances.
The company has arranged about €14bn in bridge financing from a group of banks including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Deutsche Bank, and said it would maintain its investment-grade credit profile with gross leverage below two times. Uber expects the acquisition to add to earnings per share upon closing and to deliver high-single-digit percentage accretion by the third year.
Delivery Hero’s supervisory board unanimously supports the offer. Chair Kristin Skogen Lund said the board believed joining forces with a stronger partner was “the right move to best secure its future competitiveness”. Niklas Östberg, chief executive, described the tie-up as “the right partnership to build on Delivery Hero’s strengths in local food delivery and quick commerce”.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2027. As part of a package of commitments in Germany, Uber has pledged to retain Delivery Hero’s Berlin headquarters and make no changes to its workforce there until at least 2029, as well as to invest €2bn in the country over five years, partly to support autonomous vehicle deployment.
Analysts said the deal underlined the intensifying scramble for scale in food delivery, where profitability remains elusive without dominant market shares. Africa’s highly fragmented market, they noted, offered a significant consolidation opportunity for a global platform with Uber’s financial resources and technology infrastructure.