SEOUL: Germany’s Delivery Hero agreed a $4 billion deal to buy South Korea’s top food delivery app owner Woowa Brothers, ratcheting up consolidation in the industry as it expands in Asia’s fast-growing but crowded market.

The deal, announced on Friday by Woowa, follows a wave of others in the rapidly expanding sector but is the biggest so far. Woowa said it fell into the arms of its rival as “a survival strategy” in an intensely competitive market.

For Delivery Hero, now worth over 11bn euros ($12bn) after listing at a value of 4.4bn euros two and a half years ago, buying Woowa expands its presence in Asia as Europe becomes more competitive. Its shares leapt 18.9 per cent to a record 59.64 euros apiece.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2019