Grab seeks Taiwan approval for $600m Foodpanda deal

Grab has applied to Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission for approval to buy Delivery Hero’s foodpanda Taiwan business for around US$600 million.

The filing was submitted on March 27, and the deal is contingent on regulatory clearance.

In its filing, the Nasdaq-listed firm said Uber holds about 13% of its ordinary shares but under 4% of voting rights, and does not take part in day-to-day operations.

Uber’s board representative has recused themselves from decisions related to Taiwan.

Grab also disclosed SoftBank as a shareholder with 9.8% equity and 2.6% voting rights, and Toyota with 5.4% equity and 1.4% voting rights.

It said it has no known Chinese institutional investor above 5%.

Grab said it expects to close the deal in the second half of 2026, and integrate the platforms by the first half of 2027 by moving foodpanda users to its app.

🔗 Source: Focus Taiwan

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Grab’s bid comes after Uber’s expensive setback

This is the second large push in a little over a year to buy Delivery Hero’s foodpanda Taiwan business.
Uber sought to buy Delivery Hero’s foodpanda operation in Taiwan for $950 million, but Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked the deal in December 2024 1.
Officials said merging Uber Eats and foodpanda, the two biggest services, would leave one company with about 90% market share and could push up consumer prices 2.
Uber still had to pay a termination fee of about $250 million, which underlines the cost of failing to secure regulatory approval 1.

This deal tries a different route for reshaping Taiwan’s food delivery market

Grab is framing itself as a newcomer that would take foodpanda’s place in Taiwan, rather than folding it into an existing leader.
That setup could keep a two-player market, instead of combining Uber Eats and foodpanda into one dominant company, which may better address the competition issues that sank Uber’s plan 2.
The FTC review of the Uber Eats and foodpanda deal also raised questions about courier pay and working conditions; Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor filed a written objection in that context 3.
If approved, the purchase would extend Grab beyond its Southeast Asian base while Delivery Hero keeps pulling back from parts of Asia 2.