The world’s largest Internet platform outside the US and China, Rocket Internet, announced on Friday that it is divesting from a number of food takeaway services in Spain, Italy, Brazil and Mexico. The company said that it is selling the operations of these platforms to Just Eat for €125 million (approx $140 million) .
Apparently, this transaction is in line with Rocket Internet’s strategy to divest non-core operations that are not market-leading. It also added that getting La Nevera Roja and PizzaBo off the ‘Rocket-list’ reduces the complexity of Rocket Internet.
The company also highlighted that foodpanda is the world’s largest platform for takeaway services and in more than one ways, the market leader, remaining operational in 24 countries. The operations in Brazil and Mexico accounted for less than 5% of the company’s revenues in 2015.
Oliver Samwer, CEO of Rocket Internet, regarding this new development said that,
The online takeaway market remains a core focus of Rocket Internet’s business strategy with the significant ownership in the market leaders Delivery Hero and foodpanda. Today’s transactions are clearly aimed at reducing the complexity of Rocket Internet’s network of companies.
The company is selling La Nevera Roja in Spain, PizzaBo & hellofood Italy in Italy, hellofood Brazil in Brazil and hellofood Mexico in Mexico, claiming that all these businesses are non-core. The terms of this transaction are, as of yet, unknown and knowing Rocket Internet’s disclosure policies, they could be anyone’s guess.
Ralf Wenzel, Co-founder and CEO of foodpanda said,
The divestment in Latin America allows us to focus on our key markets across Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe where foodpanda has a market leading position and to which we can now dedicate more resources and capital to grow our business and improve the efficiency of our operations. We are on a very good path to reach our global growth target.
Just Eat is a London based startup, founded in 2001 and went public in 2014, which rivals the likes of Delivery Hero and others in online food ordering and delivery services.
Apparently, the transactions in Italy, Brazil and Mexico will be completed today while the transaction in Spain is anticipated to be completed by the end of Q2 2016. The delay is because the deal is still subject to regulatory approval from the Spanish competition authority, the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia.
