이 기사는 2021년 03월 24일 07시56분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

Delivery Hero has started to seek potential buyers for its South Korean unit, Yogiyo, with attention being paid to whether foreign peer companies will join the race.

Morgan Stanley, which manages the sale process, recently sent out an investment teaser to prospective buyers, industry sources said. It is said to be targeting domestic conglomerates and large-sized private equity funds.

There is likelihood of foreign strategic investors joining the race amid rising number of partnerships among food delivery companies globally.

With a lot of small food delivery companies created, a large-scale integration has been witnessed in recent years as they start to seek ways to reduce cost and improve profitability.

The global consolidation of the food delivery industry is largely led by two investors, South African investment firm Naspers and Japan-based SoftBank. Delivery Hero, Meituan Dianping, Just Eat and Takeaway.com are owned by Naspers while Uber, Grab, DoorDash and Zomato are backed by SoftBank.

Companies that belong to each investor are competing in each region, but at the same time tie-ups between the investment firms are active. The two investors will likely discuss options when they want to increase a market share in a particular region. In case of the Yogiyo deal, if foreign strategic investors join the race, it is more likely to be a competition among a handful of strategic investors, instead of receiving scattered interests from a large number of investors.

However, some market watchers are questioning whether foreign strategic investors will show strong interest in Yogiyo, given Delivery Hero decided to offload the app over Baedal Minjok, South Korea’s largest food delivery firm.

U.S.-based food delivery startup Doordash was initially considered as one of the prospective buyers, but it may not join the contest as the startup is backed by SoftBank. Delivery Hero has also reportedly excluded potential rivals including Kakao and Coupang from the deal.

“I heard that some of the domestic conglomerates are more interested in Yogiyo than foreign firms,” said an industry source, adding, “They seem to be considering participating in the race as they need last-mile delivery infrastructure and are attracted to big data accumulated by Yogiyo.” (Reporting by Hee-yeon Han)