(Adds CEO quotes, Jefferies note, expansion details) BARCELONA, May 26 (Reuters) - Spain’s delivery app Glovo wants to remain independent as it considers going public in around three years, its chief executive said, ruling out merging with Germany’s Delivery Hero from which it is buying some units.. Delivery Hero took its stake in the Barcelona-based startup to 37% after providing 229 million euros ($279.91 million) out of the 450 million euros in funding Glovo raised in April. But Glovo’s co-founder and CEO Oscar Pierre, 28, told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday he did not want to be taken over by the German group. “This is a topic we have discussed very openly with Niklas. For now the team and myself we are still very excited to keep running this independently,” he said, referring to Delivery Hero Chief Executive Niklas Ostberg. He added the company would want to remain independent after a potential listing. But investment bank Jefferies said in a note that “Glovo appears ever more pre-destined to disappear into Delivery Hero” after Glovo agreed to pay 170 million euros to buy six units of the latter in the Balkans. After posting a loss in 2020, Glovo registered triple-digit growth in revenue, orders and number of users in the first quarter, Pierre said, adding a new financing round in the next 12 months was possible. Glovo, which is present in 20 countries, expects to enter 10 more in Africa and Eastern Europe within a year and aims to be the leader in all its markets by 2022, Pierre said. He added most of the funds raised would go into gaining customers in existing countries like Spain and Italy, as well as growing its technological team and quick commerce warehouses. Pierre said Glovo was adapting to new Spanish regulations, which give delivery companies three months to formally hire their couriers as staff. He forecast the global industry would be defined by greater flexibility and protections for riders.