Delivery Hero shares pop 10% as European food delivery giant plans IPO of Middle East unit

European food delivery firm Delivery Hero says it plans to spin off its Middle East business Talabat and float it on the Dubai stock exchange later this year.

In a brief statement Thursday, Delivery Hero said that it is “preparing a listing of its Talabat business on the Dubai Financial Market” in the fourth quarter.

“A listing may be pursued through a secondary sale of shares by Delivery Hero which would retain the majority interest in the local listing entity after an IPO,” Delivery Hero said in a statement.

Shares of Delivery Hero jumped nearly 10% Thursday on the back of the Talabat IPO news as of 7:30 a.m. ET, extending gains from earlier in the session amid a broader uptick in European shares.

The company did not disclose a valuation, share price target, volume of shares that it will list, or a specific timeline beyond the fourth-quarter indication.

The potential Talabat IPO remains subject to market conditions, approval of a prospectus by securities regulators and clearance from Delivery Hero’s management and supervisory boards.

Speaking on a call with CNBC following the news, Delivery Hero CEO Niklas Ostberg said that the proposed Talabat market listing was about bringing in local investors in the region to co-invest and support the unit.

“We have been looking into those opportunities to bring in stronger support,” Ostberg told CNBC Thursdsay. “The Middle East is a very large part of our business and … there is clear value for us to further build a strong base there.”

Talabat operates across the Middle East in countries including Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. The Middle East and North America is the second-largest region for Delivery Hero, accounting for around 28% of the firm’s overall revenues in the second quarter, according to financial results published separately Thursday.

It’s also a key growth region for the firm. In the three months through June, the unit made revenues of 874.7 million euros, up 37% year-over-year.

Ostberg declined to comment on whether Delivery Hero is actively considering further opportunities, such as sales of key strategic assets and individual unit IPOs, but told CNBC that the company is “always open to these kinds of value-accretive opportunities.”

“When we see that there is a clear value, and it makes sense, both financially and strategically, of course we’re always open to it,” Ostberg said.

“I can’t comment on this specific case, but I think you would assume that we see that there is a clear —both strategic and financial — rationale to it.”