SEOUL — South Korea's Fair Trade Commission has opened a merger review into Uber Technologies' proposed acquisition of Germany's Delivery Hero, the parent company of Baemin, South Korea's largest food delivery app, a deal that would bring the country's top ride-hailing and food delivery platforms under common ownership for the first time.

The FTC said Tuesday it had received and begun reviewing a request from Uber for a pre-merger assessment of its plan to acquire all of Delivery Hero's shares. Uber intends to carry out the acquisition through a tender offer, with plans to close that offer in November of this year and complete the full share purchase in the second half of next year. The deal remains conditional on Uber securing more than 50% plus one share of Delivery Hero and on winning approval from competition regulators in each relevant country.

Delivery Hero indirectly controls Woowa Brothers, the operator of Baemin, through a subsidiary structure. Should the transaction close as planned, Uber would gain management control of Baemin, currently the leading food delivery platform in South Korea by user base.

The Korean regulator characterized the proposed transaction as a conglomerate merger, combining Uber's global ride-hailing platform business with Delivery Hero's delivery platform operations, rather than a merger between direct competitors within the same market. As of February this year, Kakao Mobility........

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