Delivery Hero’s sale of Yogiyo, South Korea’s No.2 food delivery platform, is expected to gather speed as the nation’s antitrust watchdog has sent its resolution to conditionally approve the German company’s acquisition of Korea’s largest food delivery platform Baedal Minjok (Baemin) to the headquarters in Berlin.

DH confirmed Thursday that the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) sent its written approval on Wednesday to the company’s head office that it would allow a merger between DH Korea, the local subsidiary of Germany’s DH and operator of Yogiyo, and Baemin operator Woowa Brothers, if DH divests Yogiyo and maintains current business conditions and service quality until it completes the sale.

The conditional approval was first announced by the FTC in December last year.

Now that DH has received the official approval, it has six months to complete the sale of Yogiyo. Industry observers speculate large retail conglomerates such as Lotte and Shinsegae, or local IT giants, including Naver and Kakao, may have interest in buying Yogiyo.

According to investment banking industry sources, DH recently named Morgan Stanley lead sales advisor for Yogiyo sale and will soon pick financial and legal advisors. When DH bought an 88 percent stake in Woowa Brothers in December last year, local law firm Yulchon provided legal advice to Woowa Brothers and Bae, Kim & Lee to DH. Kim & Chang and Yulchon jointly offered legal review on the antitrust issue. Samil PwC was an accounting advisor.

DH aims to complete its acquisition of Woowa Brothers by March.

By Park Chang-young, Kang In-seon and Choi Mira

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