Prosus launches £3.4bn takeover offer for Just Eat in deal ‘milestone’ – UK Times

Dutch technology investor Prosus has formally launched its 4.1 billion euro (£3.4 billion) agreed takeover of Just Eat Takeaway.com to create a European tech “champion”.

Prosus, which is majority-owned by South Africa’s Naspers, has agreed to pay 20.30 euro (£17.07) a share to buy the takeaway delivery giant.

The firm already owns a 28% stake in Just Eat rival Delivery Hero.

Just Eat Takeaway.com will continue to be based in Amsterdam under its current name and will maintain its key brands following the deal, the firms said.

It comes after the pair provisionally agreed the deal in February amid a flurry of deals in the sector, with UK-listed Deliveroo recently announcing a £2.9 billion takeover by its US rival DoorDash.

Prosus said it would be the fourth largest food delivery group in the world following the takeover.

Jitse Groen, chief executive and founder of Just Eat Takeaway.com, said: “The launch of the offer marks an important milestone in the transaction process.

“We are excited about the future and the opportunities this brings and recommend that our shareholders tender their shares and vote in favour of the resolutions at the upcoming extraordinary general meeting.”

Fabricio Bloisi, chief executive of Prosus, added: “Europe is at a pivotal moment to create a new generation of AI-powered tech champions, and this transaction is a unique opportunity to lead that transformation.”

Prosus said it “does not envisage material reductions in the total workforce of the Just Eat Takeaway Group” following the deal.

Mr Bloisi has previously said he expects to grow the number of full-time workers Just Eat Takeaway.com employs and its number of couriers.

Shareholders in Just Just will vote on the deal at a meeting held on July 8 in Amsterdam.

The planned all-cash offer comes after a difficult past few years for Amsterdam-based Just Eat, which had enjoyed booming business – and a soaring share price – during the pandemic when households were forced to eat at home, but saw trading and its stock price pare bask sharply when lockdowns ended.

Prosus already has a food business spanning 70 countries, with full ownership of Latin American food delivery platform iFood, as well as the stake in Delivery Hero, a 4% holding in global food delivery giant Meituan and a 25% stake in India’s recently floated food and grocery delivery platform, Swiggy.

It has had its sights on Just Eat for many years, having lost out to Netherlands-based firm Takeaway.com in the battle to buy Just Eat in early 2020.

Since then, Just Eat bought US food-ordering platform Grubhub in an ill-fated deal, paying 7.3 billion US dollars (£5.8 billion) at the height of the takeaway boom in 2021, only to offload the business for 650 million dollars (£514 million) last November.

Just Eat also delisted from the London Stock Exchange last December to focus on its Amsterdam listing amid cost-cutting efforts.