The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

By Aimee Donnellan

DUBLIN, July 17 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The ride hailing to takeaway group agreed to buy Germany’s Delivery Hero for $15 bln. Ample synergies justify the splurge, along with the need for scale following deals by DoorDash and Prosus. But with the sector's big prizes gone, its rivals must hunt trickier regional scraps.

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CONTEXT NEWS

Uber Technologies agreed on July 16 to buy Germany's Delivery Hero for $14.8 billion to create the largest food-delivery group outside China.

The transaction, supported by Delivery Hero's management and supervisory board, is expected to be completed in the second half of next year.

The €41.50 per-share offer represents a roughly 34% premium to Delivery Hero's three-month volume-weighted average share price, it said. It was 9% above the company's closing share price on July 15.

The deal would expand Uber Eats across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, but is expected to face antitrust scrutiny due to overlapping operations.

To ease those concerns, Delivery Hero will sell operations in 14 markets to U.S. investment firm SSW Partners for about €1.4 billion. Major shareholder Prosus has also agreed to sell its nearly 17% stake.

Shares in Delivery Hero were trading at €38.16 by 0806 GMT on July 17.