Zomato in talks to sell UAE biz to German co for $200m

Online food ordering and restaurant discovery platform Zomato is in advanced discussions with Berlin-based food delivery major Delivery Hero to sell its business in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and is seeking about $200-250 million for it, said three sources familiar with the development. Zomato’s move is aimed at shoring up capital against Bengaluru-based rival Swiggy.

The plans to raise cash through divestment comes at a time when Zomato is also in talks to raise $500 million to $1 billion in fresh capital from existing backer Ant Financial, which is also Alibaba’s payments affiliate. It has also held talks with Chinese private equity player Primavera Capital for the round, but a deal has not been finalised. “Zomato is trying to rope in a new investor for the current round of funding as well,” said the sources, adding that Goldman Sachs has been given the mandate to raise the funds.

The company is exploring a divestment as Zomato co-founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal is not keen on ceding a lot more stake to Ant Financial, which already owns 28% of the company, said these sources.

Info Edge, an early backer which owns around 28% of the company, called the battle with Swiggy “a hugely capital-consumptive game” and said it is not likely to participate in a follow-on round. “This has become a game that is slightly too big for our balance sheet to even maintain our stake, and if it is a very large round it would mean a very significant outlay on our part. So that will not be our preferred option,” said Sanjeev Bikhchandani, executive vice-chairman of Info Edge, in a conference call with analysts on Tuesday.

When contacted, Zomato said the company does not comment on rumours and speculation. A Delivery Hero spokesperson, too, said it does not comment on market speculation. UAE is the only global market where Zomato, which has a presence in 24 countries, started a food delivery business after India and it accounted for about 20% of the orders. While the latest numbers on the UAE business are not known, average order value is higher as compared to India.

“Both Delivery Hero and Zomato have 35-40% market share in UAE. The deal will give Delivery Hero a significant market leadership,” said one of the sources mentioned earlier. Delivery Hero had a presence in India through Foodpanda, which it sold to Ola for a 1% stake in the ride-hailing major in December 2017.

Zomato raised $410 million from Ant Financial last year across two rounds of funding. But main rival Swiggy was able to mop up $1.3 billion across three rounds, significantly upping the ante.

On an average, the online food delivery market is clocking over 40 million orders a month, according to analysts. Both Swiggy and Zomato are said to be losing $30-40 million each month as they offer discounts to customers and incentives to delivery personnel, even as they face competition from ride-hailing companies Ola and Uber which are pushing in this market.

Source:-https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/food-entertainment/food-services/zomato-in-talks-to-sell-uae-biz-to-german-co-for-200m/67766146