Turkish food ordering platform Yemeksepeti to be sold to German Delivery Hero

The international network of online food ordering platforms Delivery Hero has agreed to acquire Turkey's Yemeksepeti in a $589 millon transaction, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. The transaction is the largest e-commerce company acquisition in Turkish history.

"We have looked at many businesses in our industry around the world but we have rarely seen key performance indicators as exceptional as those displayed by Yemeksepeti," said Niklas Östberg, CEO of Delivery Hero, in the statement. "Customer cohorts and reorder rates are among the best in the world and far superior to those shown by our listed peers."

The acquisition is being funded through cash and shares, Delivery Hero said. The shareholders of Yemeksepeti will become shareholders in Delivery Hero as part of the transaction.

As part of the deal, Yemeksepeti's CEO and cofounder Nevzat Aydın will continue to lead the division but also join Delivery Hero as a senior advisor for the wider business.

"We are very proud to have built a company that has changed the way people think and order food in Turkey" he said in the statement. "During our 15-year history we have had many approaches from global and local investors, however we were waiting for the right time and the right partner. Today, I am delighted to team up with a company whose global ambitions, corporate culture and way of doing business are so aligned with ours."
Berlin-based Delivery Hero said Yemeksepeti is profitable, and processes more than 3 million orders a month in its markets. Thus, acquiring Yemeksepeti at $589 million, Delivery-Hero paid nearly $200 to Yemeksepeti for its each single member. Yemeksepeti is active in Turkey and Greece, as well as Middle Eastern markets such as Qatar, Jordan and Saudi Arabia via the ordering platforms foodonclick.com and ifood.jo.

German online business developer Rocket Internet owns about 39 percent of Delivery Hero, founded in May 2011 and operating in 29 markets across five continents with around 1,500 employees. It is the largest food network in the world with more than 100,000 participating restaurants with more than 12 million meals are delivered globally each month.