KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 — Delivery Hero, the parent company for FoodPanda, confirmed that they are in talks to sell some parts of their business — in particular in Malaysia and six other markets in the Asean region.

The Wirtschaftswoche business magazine first reported the news, stating that Grab could pay a little more than €1 billion (RM 4.98 billion) for the businesses in the seven markets.

The German food delivery company however stated that the deal’s value is still under negotiation. They plan to sell its activities under the FoodPanda brand in Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Singapore, FoodPanda operates across 12 markets in Asia-Pacific. It was acquired by Germany’s Delivery Hero in 2016.

The news comes as food delivery companies globally are facing growing pressure to turn profitable. A filing of Foodpanda’s Singapore entity shows a loss of S$42.7 million (about RM 146 million) in FY2022 ended December 31, on the back of S$256.7 million (about RM 880 million) in revenue.

In Malaysia, Delivery Hero reported a net loss of €67.9 million or about RM 339 million, based on the latest financial report for 2022 that was filed in April 2023.

The question now is how this sale affects FoodPanda collaborations with brands like AirAsia, which signed a partnership in May where both brands are offering cross-app services — AirAsia Ride on FoodPanda and food delivery on the AirAsia app.

Grab is also a big competitor to FoodPanda in six of the seven markets that the latter operates in. If this purchase goes through, this will be the first time Grab will enter the Laos market. — SoyaCincau