KUALA LUMPUR: The potential sale of foodpanda business in Malaysia may be edging closer.
Sources said Frankfurt-listed Delivery Hero might seal the deal to dispose off its foodpanda operation here by December this year.
The Malaysian operation is one of seven foodpanda markets in Southeast Asia that Delivery Hero was said to be disposing off with Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd rumoured as a potential buyer.
Other regional markets are Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Sources noted that most of foodpanda Malaysia staff were still in the dark on the potential sale, although some had started bracing for the worse and looking for a new job.
When contacted, foodpanda Malaysia said it had nothing new to share on the matter.
Foodpanda is Southeast's second largest food delivery company, controlling 30-40 per cent of the food delivery market in each country it is operating.
Delivery Hero recently confirmed that it was in talks to sell its foodpanda business in the region to shift its focus on turning a profit.
German's Wirtschaftswoche business magazine first reported the news late in September, stating that Grab was the potential buyer and could fork out more than one billion euro to acquire the online food and grocery delivery platform in all seven markets.
Delivery Hero, however, stated that the value of the deal was yet to be confirmed.
According to Delivery Hero's financial report in the first half of 2023 (1H23), its gross merchandise value in Asia dropped 5.9 per cent to 12.64 billion euro versus 13.44 billion euro in the same period last year.
Segment revenue for the Asia region slipped 1.8 per cent to 1.83 billion euro from 1.87 billion euro in 1H22.
Its Asia's segment include Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
In its annual report for the financial year ended December 31, 2022, Delivery Hero Malaysia Sdn Bhd posted a net loss of 52.22 million euro.
Meanwhile, analysts said Grab's share price would rise if the acquisition goes through.
The company could gain a lion's share of the online food delivery market in the region if it takes over foodpanda.
Grab made its debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Dec 2, 2021.
Year-to-date, the tech company's share price has dropped 11.27 per cent to US$3.07.