Investors in Getir, the food delivery group which is abandoning its UK operations, have approved a break-up of the company that will trigger a fresh capital injection of up to $250m (£197.5m).

Sky News has learnt that Getir, which is based in Turkey, held an extraordinary general meeting on Sunday at which shareholders backed plans to split it into two independent companies.

The first will consist of its food and grocery delivery operations in Turkey, and will be majority-owned and controlled by Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi state investment fund.

Money latest:
I bought a new car but it’s been back to dealership six times with same fault – what can I do?

This business will be led by Batuhan Gultakan, a current Getir executive, while Nazim Salur, the company’s founder, will have no active involvement in it.

Instead, Mr Salur will run the other standalone business, comprising Getir’s other assets, including Getir Drive and BiTaksi, the ride-hailing services.

Getir’s withdrawal from the UK and other European markets, confirmed in the spring, represented a full-scale retreat for a company once-valued at nearly £10bn.

Read more:
Getir ends European expansion with 1,500 UK job losses expected

Insiders said that as part of the restructuring, Mubadala had agreed to inject up to $250m into the company, both to facilitate the orderly wind-down of its UK and European arm and to invest in growing its Turkish food delivery business.

Mubadala is said to be optimistic about the outlook for the Turkish market, and that the restructuring would leave the company in a much stronger position, according to another source close to the situation.

Part of the funding could be used to repay outstanding liabilities, which are understood to include several million pounds owed to Tottenham Hotspur FC, whose training kit it sponsored.

Hundreds of jobs are being lost in the UK as a result of the closure of Getir’s business.

Companies such as Getir were big winners during the pandemic, attracting funding at astronomical valuations.

Its decline highlights the slumping valuations of technology companies once-hailed as the new titans of food retailing.

Many of its rivals have already gone bust, while others have been swallowed up as part of a desperate wave of consolidation.

Getir, whose name means ‘to bring’ in Turkish, bought rival Gorillas in a $1.2bn stock-based deal that closed in December 2022.

Getir could not be reached for comment, while Mubadala declined to comment.

Voters have been left in the dark over how the major parties will be able to fund their spending commitments, a respected thinktank has said, offering just “thin gruel”.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) took further aim at what it described as a “conspiracy of silence” from both the Conservatives and Labour on how they could meet the challenges they identify, such as reducing NHS waiting lists.

Launching its report on the crucial documents, IFS director Paul Johnson warned that spending on many public services would likely need to be cut over the next parliament unless government debt was to rise or taxes increased further.

Money latest:
Princess Diana’s family home goes on sale – it’ll cost you £10.95m

He pointed to pressure from a 60-year high in government debt levels at a time of a near-record tax burden.

Much of the blame for this was a £50bn a year increase in debt interest spending relative to forecasts, he explained, and a growing welfare budget in the wake of the COVID pandemic and cost of living crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We have rising health spending, a defence budget which for the first time in decades will likely grow rather than shrink, and the reality of demographic change and the need to transition to net zero,” Mr Johnson said.

“Add in low growth and the after-effects of the pandemic and energy price crisis and you have a toxic mix indeed when it comes to the public finances.”

“These raw facts are largely ignored by the two main parties in their manifestos”, he declared, describing the information presented to voters as a “knowledge vacuum”.

Election latest:
Labour to ‘simplify’ transitioning process

The main verdict on tax

“In line with their unwillingness to face up to the real challenges, neither main party makes any serious new proposals to increase taxes”, Mr Johnson said.

“Consistent with their conspiracy of silence, both are keeping entirely silent about their commitment to a £10bn a year tax rise through a further three years of freezes to personal tax allowances and thresholds.

“Both have tied their hands on income tax, NICs, VAT and corporation tax. The Conservatives have a long list of other tax rises, and reforms, that they wouldn’t do. Labour have ruled out more tax options since the publication of the manifestos.

“Taken at face value, Labour’s promise of no tax increases on working people” rules out essentially all tax rises. There is no tax paid exclusively by those who don’t work. Who knows what this pledge is really supposed to mean,” he concluded.

What about the other parties?

The IFS said the Liberal Democrats had bigger tax and spend policies than Labour or the Conservatives.

It also determined that Reform UK and the Greens offered much bigger numbers but declared that what they propose is “wholly unattainable”, helping to “poison the entire political debate”.

Mr Johnson concluded: “The choices in front of us are hard. High taxes, high debt, struggling public services, make them so.

“Pressures from health, defence, welfare, ageing will not make them easier. That is not a reason to hide the choices or to duck them. Quite the reverse. Yet hidden and ducked they have been.”

A pack of trade and private equity suitors are circling Evri, one of Britain’s biggest parcel delivery companies.

Sky News has learnt that Apollo Global Management and Platinum Equity are among the parties which have lodged initial offers for Evri, which is reportedly worth around £2bn.

City sources said that a number of strategic bidders were also participating in the auction, which is being run by bankers at Rothschild.

Evri, which changed its name from Hermes in 2022, uses more than 20,000 couriers and has a network of over 14,000 ParcelShops and lockers.

It is used by a large number of prominent retailers as well as the online platforms Etsy and Vinted.

The company has been owned by Advent International, another private equity group, since 2020, when it bought it from German mail order company Otto.

It has a near-20pc share of the UK market, delivering more than 700m parcels annually.

Read more business news:
Blackstone swoops for stake in Theatreland giant ATG
Steelworkers to hold first UK strike in 40 years
Four members of Britain’s richest family get jail terms

The auction of Evri comes as Parcelforce’s parent, the Royal Mail owner International Distribution Services, is in the process of being taken private.

On Friday, Sky News revealed that Yodel, which narrowly averted collapse this year, was raising tens of millions of pounds to strengthen its balance sheet.

Advent declined to comment, while neither Apollo nor Platinum responded to a request for comment.