Shares in Delivery Hero rose over 10% on Monday morning following a Financial Times report that U.S. rival Uber weighed an improved bid for the German food delivery firm. 

Delivery Hero confirmed in a statement on Saturday that it had received a takeover offer from Uber of €33 ($38.29) per share, which would value the company’s market capitalization at over €10bn. 

The German company added it “remains fully focused on executing its strategic review process and further updates will be provided as required or appropriate”.

Delivery Hero shares opened 10.5% higher.

On Sunday, the FT reported that Uber’s board had convened on Saturday to discuss an improved bid for its Berlin-based counterpart, after a €38 per share offer was reportedly rejected by one of Delivery Hero’s major shareholders. 

Delivery Hero said last week that Uber had increased its holding to about 19.5% of issued capital from roughly 7%, becoming its largest shareholder. 

Shares in Uber fell 2.4 % following the news on Friday.

If the deal were to be successful, it would represent further consolidation in the food delivery sector, after DoorDash acquired Deliveroo and Prosus bought Just Eat last year. 

Uber on Friday agreed to purchase an additional 4.5% of shares of German food delivery firm Delivery Hero from the company’s biggest shareholder Prosus.

Total gross proceeds to Prosus are approximately 270 million euros ($318 million), the company said. Uber will pay 20 euros a share, which is below Delivery Hero’s Thursday closing price following a 7% rally in the stock. However, it is a 22% premium to the 1-month average share price, Prosus said.

The move comes after Prosus last year offered a deal to buy European food delivery giant Just Eat Takeaway.com for 4.1 billion euros. However, that acquisition ran into scrutiny from the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, which said it would approve the deal if Prosus significantly reduced its shareholding in Delivery Hero.

“Prosus remains committed to selling the relevant portion of its stake in Delivery Hero within the required timeframe,” the company said in a press release on Friday.

Prosus’s now owns around 21% of Delivery Hero versus approximately 27% when the Just Eat Takeaway.com deal was announced last year, a spokesperson told CNBC.

Uber first took a stake in Delivery Hero when it purchased $300 million of newly-issued shares in 2024.

Since Prosus’s Just Eat deal last year, European regulators are rethinking their approach to mergers in the EU. The Financial Times reported this week that the Commission is considering relaxing rules around large mergers by giving more weight to “innovation, investment and resilience of the internal market”, when considering deals.

Europe’s competition commissioner Teresa Ribera told the FT in an interview that the bloc wants to encourage “pro-competitive mergers” that allow European firms to “be relevant players in global markets.”

Fabricio Bloisi, CEO of Prosus, has previously criticised Europe’s approach to mergers and acquisitions.

In an interview with CNBC in January, Bloisi said big mergers are required to compete globally but Europe’s approach had been to prevent consolidation.

“We have to change that to create really big companies in Europe,” Bloisi told CNBC.

LONDON — European stocks edged below the flatline on Friday as investors digest the end of a choppy month.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 initially saw a positive start to the session but quickly moved lower, with major bourses and sectors mixed at 8:50 a.m. in London (3:50 a.m. ET).

November has been a volatile month for equities with fears of stretched AI valuations resurfacing, causing a rollercoaster of relief rallies and sell-offs adding to insights from the latest earnings season and uncertainty over monetary policy.

However, global markets were buoyed this week by rising expectations of an interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve when it next meets on Dec. 9-10.

Delivery Hero also sat at the higher end of the index through the previous trading session. The German food delivery company gained 7.3% on Friday following a shareholder call for a strategic review, according to Bloomberg reporting. Delivery Hero declined to comment when contacted by CNBC.

British airline EasyJet advanced 2.2% on Friday as investors continued to react to its positive earnings on Wednesday, in which the firm raised profit forecasts for package holidays.

Shares in Germany’s Puma soared more than 18% on Thursday following a media report that Chinese sports multinational Anta Sports is preparing an acquisition bid. However, the stock dipped 0.7% in early dealmaking on Friday.

Investors will be watching defense stock moves on Friday as U.S. officials continue to attempt to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin broke his silence on the plan on Thursday and said his country is ready for “serious talks.”

The Stoxx Aerospace and Defense Index was last seen edging below the flatline.

The benchmark notched upwards for the fifth consecutive month in November, with healthcare-related stocks leading the index. Roche and Bayer performed well after each posting strong trial data, while France’s Abivax is up well over 1000% year-to-date amid promising data around its ulcerative colitis drug.

Tech names experienced swings as fears around an AI-fueled bubble and stretched valuations in the U.S. spilled over to Europe. ASMI, which supplies equipment to chipmakers, is down nearly 15% on the month, while Dutch chip equipment maker ASML is around 2% lower over the same time period.

ASMI was last seen 0.4% higher, while ASML was flat.

Defense stocks have also seen losses, with Germany’s Hensoldt down by nearly 25% this month amid delayed growth guidance at its capital markets day.

In terms of data, a handful of European member states are expected to release preliminary inflation data on Friday.

U.K. car production data from The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders came early in the day, revealing a fall of 23.8% year-on-year in October 2025, following a cyberattack on Jaguar Land Rover that halted production for over two weeks.

Investors will be watching Stateside commodities on Friday after a…