March 11 (Reuters) - Uber ( UBER ) has terminated its

$950 million bid for Delivery Hero's Foodpanda

business in Taiwan, the food delivery company said on Tuesday,

owing to regulatory hurdles.

Taiwan had in December blocked the deal on anti-competitive

concerns. Its Fair Trade Commission argued the buyout of Uber's ( UBER )

main rival, Foodpanda, would increase the combined market share

to 90% on the island and could incentivize Uber ( UBER ) to raise prices.

Uber ( UBER ) said it would not appeal against the decision of

Taiwan's FTC. The U.S. ride-hailing firm will have to pay a deal

termination fee of around $250 million.

Both the companies announced the deal in May last year,

which included a separate agreement for Uber ( UBER ) to buy $300 million

worth of newly issued shares of the German food delivery firm.

The termination of the acquisition would not affect the

share-purchase agreement, Delivery Hero told Reuters.

Food delivery platforms in Asia have rebounded from a

post-pandemic slowdown, but the companies are grappling with

intense competition and thin margins as they spend heavily on

discounts to retain cost-conscious customers.

Uber ( UBER ), which owns food delivery arm Uber Eats, has been

looking to tap into the growing quick-commerce business of

Foodpanda to expand its reach.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala, Chandni Shah, Pretish M J,

Jaspreet Singh and Rajveer Singh Pardesi in Bengaluru; Editing

by Alan Barona and Arun Koyyur)