UOKiK asks about Uber's loan for SSW Partners' purchase of Glovo

Poland's Glovo is set to be acquired by a New York fund, but Uber, the owner of rival Uber Eats, will lend it most of the money for the purchase. The regulator wants to check whether the fund will retain freedom of decision in relation to its creditor.

The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) announced that it will ask the company for explanations regarding the planned sale of Glovo. The information was reported by “Puls Biznesu”. The office has not received a merger notification, that is, an application for approval of the companies' combination, nor any signals from market participants. For now, there is no information about the launch of formal antitrust proceedings.

The case is linked to Uber's takeover of the German group Delivery Hero. In July, Uber offered 41.50 euros per share, valuing the group at around 13 billion euros. The transaction excluded 14 countries in which Uber Eats and Glovo compete directly, including Poland. These businesses are to be bought by the New York fund SSW Partners for around 1.4 billion euros (approximately 6 billion zlotys). According to Uber's investor documents, the fund will borrow most of this amount from Uber itself. SSW Partners employs around five people and manages assets worth about 646 million dollars. It says it will look for long-term owners for the acquired companies.

UOKiK wants to determine whether the terms of the loan will leave the fund free to make its own decisions. The loan itself does not automatically mean that Uber will gain control over the acquired companies. However, the provisions of the agreement and the lender's rights may be important. The European Commission is also examining the transaction, and SSW Partners itself requested that its part be covered by an EU review. In 2025, the Commission fined Delivery Hero and Glovo a total of around 329 million euros for breaches of competition law.

The closing of the transaction is planned for the second half of 2027. Until then, Glovo remains part of Delivery Hero. According to 2024 data cited by Antyweb, Glovo was the second-largest food delivery platform in Poland. The leader was Pyszne.pl with a 37.1 percent share. Uber Eats had a 9.7 percent market share.

For restaurants and shops, this means that whether Glovo remains an independent competitor to Uber Eats depends on the regulators' assessment. This competition affects commissions, promotions and the terms of cooperation with the platforms.