South Korea's antitrust regulator said Tuesday that Delivery Hero (DH) has asked it to extend the deadline for the sale of its food delivery affiliate here, Yogiyo, as the German company is facing difficulty in finding a potential investor.

In December, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) ordered DH to sell Yogiyo, South Korea's No. 2 food delivery app, if it wants to buy the country's top food delivery app operator, Woowa Brothers. DH has to sell Yogiyo by Aug. 3.

Details on DH's request are not known, but depending on the regulator's decision, the deadline can be extended by up to six months.

DH announced in December 2019 that it will acquire an 88 percent stake in Woowa, the operator of delivery app Baedal Minjok, or Baemin.

The German company is in talks with private equity funds, including MBK Partners and Affinity Equity Partners, to sell Yogiyo, as two local retail giants -- Shinsegae Group and Lotte Group -- have decided not to join the takeover bidding.

Industry watchers earlier forecast the Yogiyo deal may fetch 2 trillion won ($1.74 billion).

The food delivery app market, valued at 10 trillion won last year here, has undergone explosive growth amid the pandemic as more people refrained from dining out on concerns about virus infections. (Yonhap)