By Leo Marchandon and Nqobile Dludla
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Dutch technology investor Prosus has agreed to buy Just Eat Takewaway.com for 4.1 billion euros ($4.3 billion) to create a “European tech champion” of food delivery, it said on Monday.
Prosus’ move comes nearly five years after it lost a takeover battle for Just Eat to in a 5 billion pound ($6.3 billion) showdown against Takeaway.com. It is now poised to buy the merged entity at a significantly lower price than its original 2019 offer.
The investment firm, majority owned by South Africa’s Naspers, is also the biggest shareholder in Glovo owner Delivery Hero with a 28% stake.
The acquisition would mark a significant shift in the European food delivery market and have potential global implications, as it would make Prosus the fourth largest food delivery company in the world behind Meituan, DoorDash and Uber, ING analysts said in a note.
With a food business spanning more than 70 countries, Prosus also owns Latin America’s top food delivery platform iFood, has a 25% stake in India’s leading food and grocery delivery platform Swiggy and a 4% stake in Meituan, it said.
The food delivery sector has seen dramatic swings since the COVID-19 pandemic, with Just Eat Takeaway.com’s market value plummeting from its peak of over 100 euros per share in October 2020, when lockdowns drove unprecedented demand for home-delivered meals.
Prosus’ offer of 20.30 euros per share for the entire share capital is unanimously supported by Just Eat’s management and supervisory board.
Shares in Prosus fell 6.5% in Amsterdam by 1327 GMT on Monday, while Just Eat surged 54% to match the premium of the offer price. Naspers’ shares fell 6% in Johannesburg.
Shares in Delivery Hero jumped 5%. A German trader said some analysts were seeing the deal as a first step towards a merger between the Dutch and German groups.
Prosus CEO Fabricio Bloisi said there was no plan or project on Delivery Hero right now.
“Our focus is growth and with growth we expect to create more jobs in many dimensions. More jobs in technology sector but also more jobs in restaurants and more opportunities for drivers too,” he told reporters in a call, referring to Just Eat.
Bloisi added that the new technology investment, including AI, would be aimed at making Just Eat’s delivery model more efficient.
“We are not looking forward to other big news in food delivery or acquisitions right now,” he said.
Just Eat’s management will remain in place and the company will stay based in Amsterdam, its CEO Jitse Groen said in a separate media call.
Earlier on Monday, Just Eat reported 36% growth in its 2024 core profit.
($1 = 0.9513 euros)
($1 = 0.7916 pounds)
(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla in Johannesburg and Leo Marchandon in Gdansk, additional reporting by Paolo Laudani and Toby Sterling; Editing by Tom Hogue and Milla Nissi)
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