(Bloomberg) -- Activist investor Sachem Head Capital Management has built a 3.6% position in Delivery Hero SE and may seek representation on the board of the German food delivery company, according to people familiar with the matter.

The New-York based fund may also seek to replace Delivery Hero Chief Executive Officer Niklas Oestberg, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Sachem Head sees the firm’s operating performance and share price as disappointing compared with peers, they said.

Shares in Delivery Hero jumped as much as 17% after Bloomberg News reported Sachem Head’s position, and closed 14.5% higher on Thursday. The company said it doesn’t comment on rumors or speculation, while Sachem Head declined to comment.

In Germany, investors are obliged to report holdings of more than 3% of a company’s shares, or above 5% including derivatives. Delivery Hero’s key shareholder is Prosus NV, which has a holding of around 30%, according to Prosus’s latest annual report.

Prosus is separately seeking to get a Prosus employee on the Delivery Hero board, people familiar with the matter said. A spokesperson for Prosus declined to comment.

Sachem Head, which is run by Scott Ferguson, also recently disclosed a 5.2% stake in UK food delivery company Deliveroo Plc. The activist fund believed the company was undervalued and a potential takeover target, people familiar with the matter said in September.

Shares in food delivery companies surged during the coronavirus pandemic as lockdowns spurred demand for takeout food. But they’ve slumped in recent years, leaving Delivery Hero down about 80% from its 2021 peak.

Read: Europe’s Food-Delivery Peers Must Refocus to Beat Sales Reset

Sachem Head, which has about $3.6 billion in assets under management, has held several activist positions in European companies, pushing for breakups, full sales or board representation. In the UK, it held a stake in restaurant group Whitbread Plc, which subsequently sold its Costa coffee-shop chain to Coca-Cola Co. It was also involved in security firm G4S Plc, which was later bought by Allied Universal Security Services LLC. 

Delivery Hero said earlier this year that negotiations to sell part of its Foodpanda business in some markets in Southeast Asia have failed. The company also announced last month that Chief Financial Officer Emmanuel Thomassin, who held the position for a decade, is leaving to join money transfer firm Wise Plc in October.

Delivery Hero, which has a market capitalization of just under €9 billion ($9.8 billion), is holding its annual general meeting on June 19, according to its website.

--With assistance from Amy Thomson, Phil Serafino, Gillian Tan and Loni Prinsloo.

(Adds detail on Prosus board representative search in fifth paragraph.)

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