UK's Deliveroo gets $3.6 billion buyout proposal from DoorDash

By Aatrayee Chatterjee and Amy-Jo Crowley

(Reuters) -British meal delivery company Deliveroo said on Friday it received a proposal from U.S. peer DoorDash on April 5 to buy all of its shares for 2.7 billion pounds ($3.60 billion).

Deliveroo announced that its board has reviewed DoorDash's proposal of 180 pence per share and would likely recommend it to shareholders, contingent upon agreeing on the other terms of the offer.

DoorDash will need to make a firm offer by May 23. The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

JPMorgan is advising Doordash, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The current offer marks the first formal approach since the last report in the summer, the source added.

Deliveroo's shares have weakened nearly 50% since their 2021 debut as demand for online food delivery stagnated after the pandemic and investors shifted toward more profitable companies.

In March, Deliveroo announced its exit from Hong Kong, selling some assets to Delivery Hero's foodpanda. The Hong Kong operations were loss-making and represented about 5% of the company's overall transactions.

Deliveroo’s shares closed at 146.6 pence on Friday.

The deal is expected to face no regulatory hurdles, as it provides DoorDash access to 10 new markets where it currently has no presence, creating a highly complementary footprint - other competitors might encounter more antitrust issues, the source said.

Last year, Reuters reported DoorDash had shown interest in a takeover of Deliveroo, but a source said talks ended after disagreements on valuation.

A deal between the two firms would help DoorDash solidify its footprint in Europe, after the U.S. meal delivery group's 2021 purchase of Finland-based rival Wolt Enterprises in an all-stock deal valued at about $8 billion.

($1 = 0.7508 pounds)

(Reporting by Aatrayee Chatterjee; Additional reporting by Anuja Mistry; Editing by Alan Barona and Devika Syamnath)