Glovo CEO Says Won’t Sell to Delivery Hero, Works Toward IPO
Glovo CEO Says He Won’t Sell to Delivery Hero, Works Toward IPO
(Bloomberg) -- Glovo, the Spanish food-delivery company, isn’t interested in combining with its acquisitive shareholder Delivery Hero SE and plans to work toward a public listing, Chief Executive Officer Oscar Pierre said.
Delivery Hero’s CEO Niklas Ostberg said in July that he holds regular discussions with other food delivery companies, including Glovo, about potential deals. In December, the German company agreed to buy Glovo’s Latin American business and earlier this month, it said it had plans to raise as much as 1.3 billion euros ($1.6 billion) from a share sale.
“Delivery Hero is a super good partner,” Pierre said. “They know our dream is to stay independent, and they respect it.”
Both companies have been working closely "for many years, and we were excited to incorporate their Latin American services into our global network last September,” Delivery Hero said in an emailed statement. “As always, our main focus remains on delivering amazing experiences to our customers and we remain open to opportunities to expand our global footprint where we feel we can make a difference. Together with Glovo, we have agreed that an independent path is preferable at this point in time.”
Glovo, whose valuation passed the 1 billion-euro mark in 2019, is instead planning for an initial public offering sometime in the next three years, he said. Glovo, like many delivery companies, has seen a surge in orders after the Covid-19 pandemic forced shoppers and diners to stay home last year.
“We still have a lot of work to do in terms of admin, finance and business, but it’s realistic to think we will do an IPO within the next three years,” he said
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