SOUTH AFRICA – Prosus, a major subsidiary of South African Naspers, has entered into an agreement to acquire an additional 2.5% stake in Delivery Hero, which is subject to regulatory approval, through its subsidiary, MIH Food Holdings B.V.

Delivery Hero is an online food-delivery service based in Berlin that connect customers with restaurants and shops they love.

According to Prosus, acquiring the additional stake is a sound financial investment that will afford it the ability to offset any potential future dilution which may occur in the normal course from, for example, convertible issuances, employee exercises and/or stock issuances.

Prosus may increase its stake in Delivery Hero if future opportunities arise to obtain further shares at attractive terms, but Prosus has no intention of exceeding an aggregate shareholding of 29.99%.

MIH Food Holdings B.V. currently holds 24.97% of Delivery Hero, which will increase to 27.47% post receipt of regulatory approval and closing of the transaction, expected by the end of September 2021. Prosus will remain the largest shareholder in Delivery Hero.

The transaction will be funded from existing resources.

In October this year, Prosus acquired approximately 20.37 million shares in Delivery Hero via market and bilateral trades through its subsidiary, MIH Food Holdings B.V.

The acquisition of the shares increased MIH Food Holdings B.V.’s shareholding by 8.18% to 22.24% on a fully diluted basis.

Prosus acquired the shares with the intention to offset existing and future dilution incurred from convertible issuances, employee exercises and stock issuance related to the Woowa transaction.

Prior to that, in August Prosus entered into an agreement to acquire an additional 2.5% stake in Delivery Hero.

Growing its position in online food delivery is consistent with Prosus’s strategy to invest in platforms with global potential that offer online marketplace services in high-growth markets.

Delivery Hero, along with Swiggy, iFood, Wolt, Oda and Flink comprise the Food Delivery portfolio, which has a presence across 69 markets across the world.

Meanwhile, Prosus’s parent company Naspers also recently invested an undisclosed amount in South Africa based food systems integrator, Food Supply Network (FSN) through its funding unit, Naspers Foundry.

Naspers Foundry, announced at the end of 2018, is a R1.4 billion (US$85.6m) early-stage tech investment vehicle aimed at boosting the South African tech sector.

The investment in FSN, a marketplace that integrates food ordering system of manufacturers, distributors, restaurants, hotels and retailers was Naspers’ third deal under the fund.

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