South Korea's antitrust regulator said Thursday it extended the deadline for the sale of Delivery Hero's food delivery affiliate here, Yogiyo, until Jan. 2 next year, as the German company is facing difficulty in finding a potential investor.

In December last year, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) ordered Delivery Hero 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.

Delivery Hero had been required to sell Yogiyo by Aug. 3. Earlier this month, Delivery Hero asked the KFTC to extend the deadline.

Delivery Hero 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 regarding virus infections. (Yonhap)