Rocket Internet SE on Friday sold its takeaway food businesses in Spain (La Nevera Roja) and Italy (PizzaBo & hellofood Italy), while Foodpanda sold its businesses in Brazil (Hellofood Brazil) and Mexico (Hellofood Mexico) to Just Eat Plc for Euro 125 million ($139 million).
The transaction is in line with Rocket Internet's strategy to sell non-core operations, the German internet firm said. The sale of La Nevera Roja and PizzaBo further reduces the complexity of Rocket Internet. The Last Portfolio Value, including cash, remains at the latest disclosed figure of Euro 7.2 billion ($8.02 billion) as of November 30, 2015, said Rocket. Foodpanda remains the market leader in growth markets, with a presence in 24 countries. The operations in Brazil and Mexico accounted for less than five per cent of Foodpanda's revenues in 2015. The transactions in Italy, Brazil and Mexico will be completed on Friday. It is expected that the transaction in Spain will be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2016, as it is still subject to regulatory approval from the Spanish competition authority.
Oliver Samwer, CEO of Rocket Internet commented: "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."
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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."
David Buttress, CEO, JUST EAT said: "The acquisitions from Rocket Internet and foodpanda represent a positive step forward for the global online takeaway industry enabling all parties to focus their resources on building bigger and better long term businesses in their key geographies."
