BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - The food delivery service Delivery Hero has suffered a setback in Taiwan. The local competition authority TFTC will not approve the sale of the Food Panda business in Taiwan, which was announced in May, the company announced over the Christmas holidays. The US ride-hailing and delivery service Uber had wanted to acquire the business in a multi-stage deal for just under one billion US dollars.

The Americans had also planned to purchase a small stake in Delivery Hero. Uber can appeal against the TFTC's decision or terminate the transaction, the press release added. Its shares were relatively unimpressed by the news on Friday.

Delivery Hero's share price will not be able to react until Friday due to the holiday. The experts at JPMorgan believe that it will then initially fall significantly. After all, most investors had expected a successful takeover, according to an analysis published by the US bank on Thursday. The announcement should therefore be seen as clearly negative. However, there is still room for other sales in the region, which could act as a positive catalyst.

When the takeover agreement was announced in mid-May, Delivery Hero's share price jumped by more than a fifth in an initial reaction. However, the share price is now slightly lower again.