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Just Eat Takeaway.com is set to be acquired by investment group Prosus in a more than €4bn deal that will lead to the European food delivery company’s delisting from public markets.
Prosus made an all-cash offer valuing Just Eat shares at €20.30, a 22 per cent premium over its three-month high.
The move marks an end to a tumultuous few years for the Amsterdam-based group, whose shares surged during the Covid-19 pandemic but fell sharply as lockdowns ended.
Just Eat acquired US-based food ordering platform Grubhub for $7.3bn in 2021 at the height of the pandemic-fuelled delivery boom before selling it last November for just $650mn.
The deal for Just Eat marks Prosus’s most significant transaction under its new chief executive Fabricio Bloisi, who has targeted ambitious growth plans for the investment group.
In a statement, Bloisi said the Just Eat deal was an “opportunity to create a European tech champion”.
Bloisi is the former head of iFood, the Prosus-owned food delivery app that dominates his native Brazil.
He became chief executive of South Africa’s Naspers group, aiming to double the market value of its investment arm Prosus, which is also the biggest shareholder in Chinese internet giant Tencent.
The acquisition of Just Eat Takeaway.com by Prosus signifies a significant move in the food delivery industry, with implications for both companies and the broader market. Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story.
