Grubhub's (GRUB) shares rose by more than 5.2% on Friday following a news report that revealed two new potential buyers have emerged for the food delivery company. Citing "people familiar with the matter," CNBC reported that European delivery companies Just Eat Takeaway.com and Delivery Hero are now vying for the company.
Last month, rideshare giant Uber Technologies (UBER -2.94%) made an initial offer to buy Grubhub in an all-stock deal, which Grubhub refused. Talks between the two are ongoing.
Image source: Grubhub.
Just Eat Takeaway is the result of a recent merger between a U.K. company and a peer based in the Netherlands. Delivery Hero is based in Germany. Neither company has commented directly on the article, although a Delivery Hero spokesman told CNBC, "[b]eing a global leader in the delivery industry, we are regularly looking at potential transactions to evaluate new opportunities."
Grubhub and Uber also have not made any public statements on the apparent interest of the European companies.
According to CNBC, Just Eat Takeaway is working with Bank of America on the potential deal.
Selling itself to a European peer could help Grubhub avoid a potential regulatory problem. Several critics, including U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota, have effectively characterized a Grubhub-Uber merger as anti-competitive. Since there has been much consolidation in the food delivery sector, there is only a handful of large, powerful companies operating nationwide.
Grubhub outperformed many other consumer goods stocks on Friday, in addition to topping the gains of the wider market. Uber shares also rose, although not as precipitously; they gained 2.1% on the day.
