backLONDON, March 23, 2015 — King & Spalding represented online and mobile food ordering company Delivery Hero on its market entry into the Middle East via the takeover of Talabat.com, the regional partner for global restaurants brands including Burger King, KFC and Pizza Hut. Talabat.com was recently acquired by Rocket Internet for approximately €150 million.
Besides operating in its home market Kuwait, Talabat.com is active in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar. The restaurant network of Talabat.com consists of around 1,300 partner restaurants, including Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, Pizza Express, Papa John’s, TGI Fridays and Subway.
This acquisition of Talabat.com from Rocket Internet follows on from the February acquisition by Rocket Internet of a 30 percent stake in Delivery Hero for approximately €496 million. Through the contribution of the shares in Talabat.com to Delivery Hero and the acquisition of shares in Delivery Hero from existing Delivery Hero investors for €52 million, Rocket Internet will increase its stake in Delivery Hero to approximately 39 percent.
King & Spalding acted as international counsel to Delivery Hero on the Talabat.com purchase as well as the financing aspects for the February deal. The cross-border team was led by London partner Markus Bauman and included senior associates Ilan Kotkis (London) and Osama Audi (Dubai). German law advice on both deals was provided by GLNS.
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