Aspex demands Delivery Hero CEO exit and audit over 1.5 billion euro legal risk
Shares in the food delivery company have fallen almost 30% in Frankfurt trading this year
Published Tue, Mar 24, 2026 · 10:52 PM
[FRANKFURT] Delivery Hero’s second largest shareholder is ramping up pressure on the food delivery company by threatening to appoint a special auditor to investigate its legal liabilities.
In a letter sent to Delivery Hero’s supervisory board, Aspex Management wrote that a bill of more than 1.5 billion euros (S$2.2 billion) for legal provisions and contingent liabilities represented an “existential” issue for the company.
Hong Kong-based Aspex blamed “unfortunate management decisions” by Delivery Hero’s chief executive officer Niklas Östberg and called for change at the top.
“We believe the issues with Niklas’ management style and performance go beyond the hesitation or inability to divest assets, therefore wholesale changes in the management team will be required to address issues,” Aspex wrote in the letter seen by Bloomberg News.
Shares in Delivery Hero have fallen almost 30 per cent in Frankfurt trading this year, giving the company a market value of about 4.9 billion euros.
“We are progressing with the strategic review and it remains an ongoing core focus of both the management and supervisory board,” a spokesperson for Delivery Hero said, acknowledging the letter.
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Aspex, which owns more than 9 per cent of Delivery Hero, called on the supervisory board to explain how it has been monitoring legal compliance; outline steps it has taken to identify management board members who have contributed to the fines being imposed; and confirm it has taken steps to recover damages from those people.
The fund asked for answers by Apr 3 or said it was prepared to request the appointment of a special auditor at Delivery Hero’s next annual general meeting.
“Compliance is a serious and non-negotiable matter, and in the case of Delivery Hero, increasingly an existential one,” Aspex wrote.
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The letter marks the second time in as many weeks that Aspex has admonished Delivery Hero and its leadership. It previously said it would move to replace management if the company did not push ahead with the sale of certain assets.
Berlin-based Delivery Hero this week agreed to sell its Foodpanda business in Taiwan to Grab Holdings for US$600 million. BLOOMBERG
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