Acquisition

Things aren't looking good for online retailer Lesara. The insolvent ecommerce player is searching for investors and it almost got one interested to take over. But at the last minute, that investor dropped out. Now, the inventory will soon be on sale and there are several parties interested in acquiring Lesara's logistics center.

Dutch food delivery group Takeaway.com has acquired the businesses of Delivery Hero in Germany. The acquisition comprises the Lieferheld, Pizza.de and Foodora brands in Germany and is in return for cash and a equity stake in Takeaway.com.

Ecommerce software provider Shopify has acquired the Swedish startup Tictail. The news was confirmed when merchants using Tictail tried to log in and got a message about the ecommerce platform joining Shopify.

Ecommerce Foundation has acquired the British website Scamadviser, which aims to help online shoppers make a well-informed decision before they buy something online. With the technology behind the website, Ecommerce Foundation wants to further strengthen its global ecommerce trustmark solution.

Ecommerce delivery platform MetaPack has been acquired by Stamps, a shipping software solution from the US. Stamps.com, which also offers provides postage online, bought the UK business for approximately 197 million euros.

Two major German department store chains, Kaufhof and Karstadt, will form a joint venture after Hudson's Bay sells half of its European business to Signa Holding. The latter will hold only a little bit more than half of the entity and will manage the operating business.

Online food delivery service Takeaway.com has acquired Foodarena, a similar company from Switzerland, from its main competitor Delivery Hero. The acquisition doesn't mean Takeaway.com is entering a new market, as the Dutch company was already operating a food delivery service in Switzerland.

Klarna has acquired Shop.co, a small German startup that wants to simplify online shopping by offering a universal shopping cart. There's little known about the deal, but according to Klarna it's mostly about the acquisition of intellectual property and taking over a mere Shop.co employees.

PayPal has signed an agreement to acquire iZettle, a Swedish fintech company that's aimed at small businesses. PayPal will pay 2.2 billion euros for iZettle, which makes it the biggest acquisition of PayPal ever.

UK supermarket chains Sainsbury's and Asda have agreed to merge. The competition regulators still have to agree to the acquisition, but if it gets the green light, the merged identity will become the biggest grocer in the United Kingdom.

Swiss retail company Coop will be the total owner of online marketplace Siroop with effect from the first of May. On that day, the major retail and wholesale company will acquire the 50 percent share package of Swisscom. Coop and Swisscom jointly launched Siroop in 2016.

Takeaway.com, the Dutch company that's gaining more and more market share in Europe, has acquired two food delivery marketplaces in Eastern Europe. Takeaway.com is now the owner of BGmenu from Bulgaria and Oliviera from Romania.

Monoprix, subsidiary of Casino Group, is busy acquiring Sarenza, a popular online shoe retailer from France. With the expected acquisition, Monoprix wants to further present itself as an omnichannel lifestyle leader. The ecommerce know-how of Sarenza should help Monoprix with its digitalization strategy.

Dutch food delivery service company Takeaway.com considers merging with Delivery Hero. Founder Jitse Groen thinks a shakeout is the next logical step, as a consolidation of the market is on its way. "In every major country in the world there can be only one player."

Amazon is actively looking for partnerships and acquisitions in Europe. The American ecommerce giant has approached FMCG retailers, such as leading UK supermarket chain Morrisons and major French retail chain Monoprix.