Rocket Internet's online food delivery service expands in southeast Europe

LONDON (Reuters) - Foodpanda, an online food delivery service backed by e-commerce investor Rocket Internet AG, said on Wednesday it is acquiring three companies in southeast Europe, the latest in a string of deals as it seeks to expand worldwide. Foodpanda said it had agreed to acquire Donesi.com, a food delivery service active in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with Pauza.hr in Croatia and NetPincer in Hungary. It plans to continue to operate under these local brands. NetPincer was founded in 1999, Donesi in 2006 and Pauza started in 2008. Terms of the deals were not disclosed. The company is already active across eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America. The latest deals in Europe follows moves two weeks ago to consolidate its market position in India and Mexico through a series of asset swaps with rival Delivery Hero of Germany. In exchange for acquiring TastyKhana of India and PedidosYa of Mexico, Delivery Hero acquired Foodpanda businesses operating in five Latin American countries under the Hellofood brand. Separately, Foodpanda acquired rival Entrega Delivery in Brazil in September. Terms of those deals were not disclosed. Foodpanda, Delivery Hero and its rivals GrubHub of the United States and Britain's Just-Eat are among the major brands in a worldwide race to help takeaway restaurants reach local customers via web and mobile food ordering apps. (Reporting by Eric Auchard; Editing by David Holmes)