Latham & Watkins is guiding US food delivery giant DoorDash on its £2.9bn acquisition of smaller UK rival Deliveroo, which is being repped on the deal by White & Case. 

The deal is the largest UK take-private so far this year and will create a combined company with a presence in more than 40 countries serving about 50 million customers per month. 

The Latham team guiding DoorDash on the deal is led by London corporate partners Ed Barnett and Doug Abernethy. It marks the first time Latham has acted for the San Francisco-founded company on a significant M&A deal, though US lawyers at the firm previously represented DoorDash in antitrust litigation alleging a conspiracy among food delivery companies to implement contractual terms, successfully getting the company removed from the case. In 2019 Latham also represented the lead investors in DoorDash’s $400m Series F funding round. 

Meanwhile, the White & Case team acting for Deliveroo is led by London corporate partners Guy Potel and Di Yu. The duo also led a White & Case team that advised the company on the sale of assets in Hong Kong to rival foodpanda and the closure of its remaining operations in Hong Kong earlier this year, amid weak sales and intense competition in the region. 

The DoorDash deal brings an end to a tumultuous period as a listed company for Deliveroo, which has faced stiff competition from rivals including Just Eat and Uber Eats. The company’s share price fell sharply after its debut on the London Stock Exchange – guided by Freshfields – four years ago and has never recovered, partly due to investor concerns over the company’s long-term profitability. 

DoorDash is offering 180p per Deliveroo share, a 44% increase from the point when takeover talks became public last month, but still well below the 390p share price at which Deliveroo first floated. 

DoorDash and Deliveroo said on Tuesday (6 May) that their boards had agreed the final terms of the cash deal. 

The two firms have seen their fortunes diverge since they were founded in 2013, with Nasdaq-listed DoorDash about 30 times the size of the UK company based on market capitalisation, according to the Financial Times. DoorDash boasts around 42 million monthly active customers, compared to Deliveroo’s seven million. 

The deal would bring together “DoorDash’s strong operating playbook with Deliveroo’s local expertise”, said Tony Xu, CEO and co-founder of DoorDash.

Deliveroo operates across nine countries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, all of which are new for DoorDash. The Financial Times reported DoorDash hoped this lack of overlap meant the deal wouldn’t be blocked by competition regulators. 

DoorDash currently operates in more than 30 countries globally, most of which it gained through its €7bn all-stock deal for Finnish delivery app Wolt in 2021. The company called in Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Allen & Overy and Finnish firm Avance Attorneys for advice on the deal, while Wolt was counselled by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Finnish firm Roschier Attorneys. 

The Latham team guiding DoorDash on the Deliveroo deal also includes partners David Little (regulatory), Sarah Gadd (employment and benefits) and Jason Licht, Christopher Clark, Hayden Teo and Hugh O’Sullivan (all finance). 

It continues a string of high-profile take-privates on which Latham has advised in London, following its role in five of the top 10 largest European public-to-private deals in 2024, including Hargreaves Lansdown, Darktrace and Tyman. 

Globally Latham, perenially among the leading M&A law firms, advised on 665 deals worth $408.4bn in 2024, earning it third place on the London Stock Exchange Group’s (LSEG’s) legal advisor rankings by value. The firm ranked fifth for Q1 2025 after working on deals worth $80.7bn. 

The White & Case team acting for Deliveroo also includes partners Marc Israel (antitrust) and Nicholas Greenacre (employment and benefits). The firm placed eighth in LSEG’s rankings for Q1 after working on deals worth $64.9bn, having ranked 14th for 2024 after advising on deals worth $170.2bn. 

The Deliveroo deal is expected to close during Q4 2025. JP Morgan is acting as financial adviser to DoorDash on the matter, while Goldman Sachs is acting as lead financial adviser and corporate broker to Deliveroo, Allen & Company is acting as financial adviser and Barclays is acting as financial adviser and corporate broker.