Goldman leads group investing in S.Korean online food service

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s private equity arm led a group of investors putting 40 billion won ($36.1 million) in South Korea's largest online and mobile food ordering service, as more consumers take to ordering meals from their phones.

The investment in Woowa Brothers Corp, which owns the Baedal Minjok service, will help the company expand internationally and develop new technology, Goldman said in a statement. Woowa last month started a joint venture with chat app company Line Corp to launch a food delivery service in Japan.

Line is owned by Naver Corp, South Korea's top Internet portal operator. Naver last month said it was holding off on an IPO for Line to build up the chat app company's revenue and profit.

Goldman didn't disclose the size of the stake in Woowa bought with the investment.

Baedal Minjok, which means "Delivery Nation" in English, processes more than 4 million orders a month, 99 percent of which are done through mobile devices.

(1 US dollar = 1,107.5400 Korean won)

(Reporting by Elzio Barreto; Editing by Stephen Coates)