Delivery Hero SE, Germany-based local delivery platform, has on Wednesday announced that it has terminated discussions with the main negotiating counterpart regarding a potential sale of its foodpanda business in selected Southeast Asian markets covering Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.

Delivery Hero said in a statement that when reconfirming ongoing discussions on February 2, 2024, Delivery Hero remained optimistic that it would reach agreeable terms for signing with the main negotiating counterpart.

It said that at that time, the company believed it had reached an alignment with the potential buyer on the fundamental terms regarding the sale of the business.

However, it said the firm took the decision to withdraw from negotiations as this is no longer the case.

“The strength of our Asia Pacific (APAC) business has become evident during the last quarters as the region reached an inflection point in 2023,

“We believe the region remains strongly positioned to drive profitable growth at scale. The decision to terminate negotiations after months of discussions was taken after careful consideration,” said Niklas Östberg, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Delivery Hero.

As always, Delivery Hero said the company will remain open to merger and acquisition (M&A) and will continue to assess potential strategic alternatives.

However, it said the firm will only proceed with negotiations where it can create value for shareholders with high certainty of closing.

It said it continues to exercise a disciplined investment policy aimed at maximizing profitable growth and free cash flow generation in its operations.

It is noted that Delivery Hero’s FY 2024 guidance, provided with its fourth quarter 2023 trading update, excludes any M&A activities.

Consequently, this announcement does not have any impact on the company’s guidance it set out for 2024 or its free cash flow expectations for the medium term.

Delivery Hero is the world’s leading local delivery platform, operating its service in over 70 countries across Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

The company started as a food delivery service in 2011 and today runs its own delivery platform on four continents.

Additionally, Delivery Hero is pioneering quick commerce, the next generation of e-commerce, aiming to bring groceries and household goods to customers in under one hour and often in 20 to 30 minutes.

Headquartered in Berlin, Delivery Hero has been listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since 2017 and is part of the MDAX stock market index.

Foodpanda’s parent Delivery Hero denies sale talks have collapsed – report