Sources: Uber has increased its stake in Delivery Hero to ~37% by acquiring Aspex Management's 14.6% share at a €12B valuation, after a takeover offer last week
Share purchase from Aspex Management steps up US ride-hailing group's pursuit of German food delivery company
Context & Ripple Effects
Uber had already built an initial Delivery Hero position through a purchase from Prosus, then raised it from roughly 7% to 19.5% while publicly saying it did not intend to cross the 30% voting-rights threshold. Acquiring Aspex Management’s block marks a sharp escalation from a minority investment toward effective deal leverage.
The related coverage subsequently describes advanced acquisition talks and an agreed transaction at a higher per-share offer, making this stake-building phase important as the route by which Uber consolidated influence before a full combination.
First-order effects
- Uber becomes Delivery Hero’s largest disclosed strategic shareholder at about 37%, giving it substantially more influence over the company’s ownership and takeover process.
- Aspex exits its 14.6% position, while remaining Delivery Hero shareholders face a more concentrated shareholder base and a clearer prospect of a control transaction.
Second-order effects
- A large pre-existing Uber stake makes a competing bidder’s path harder: any alternative proposal would need to win over shareholders despite Uber’s significant voting and economic position.
- The move shifts Delivery Hero’s valuation from a market question toward a transaction benchmark, giving investors a concrete reference point for subsequent bid discussions.
Third-order effects
- If platforms increasingly use staged minority stakes before acquisitions, public-market share purchases can become a central mechanism for securing strategic combinations rather than merely passive investments.
- The sequence also raises the importance of takeover-rule thresholds and shareholder protections when a buyer’s stated intentions change as its ownership rises.
The trend: This is one data point in ride-hailing platforms extending their food-delivery reach through progressively larger strategic stakes that can culminate in consolidation.