Dutch investor targets £3.4bn Just Eat deal after Deliveroo's sale to US rival
Dutch investment firm Protus has formally launched a $4.3billion (£3.4billion) takeover bid for food delivery giant Just Eat Takeaway.
The offer follows the £2.9billion takeover of British rival Delivero by Silicon Valley platform DoorDash agreed earlier in May.
Protus, which owns Brazil's biggest online takeaway company, iFood, provisionally agreed to acquire Amsterdam-based Just Eat in late February.
It will pay €20.30 per share under the deal, a 63 per cent premium to its closing share price on 21 February, the final trading day before the offer period began.
Just Eat shares have plunged by around 80 per cent over the past five years following the disastrous acquisition of US rival Grubhub and a demand slowdown after Covid-related restrictions were loosened.
The group has responded to weaker trading by selling its stake in iFood to Prosus for €1.8billion and exiting operations in many countries, including France, Norway, and Portugal.
It also delisted from the London Stock Exchange and sold Grubhub to restaurant chain Wonder Group for $650million, a fraction of the $7.3billion it spent buying the Chicago-based delivery service in 2020.
In its latest trading update, Just Eat reported the overall value of orders on its platform - known as gross transaction value (GTV) - flatlined at €4.7billion in the three months ending March.
Over the preceding 12 months, the company's GTV and revenue both declined by 2 per cent at constant currency rates to €26.3billion and €5.1billion, respectively.
Fabricio Bloisi, chief executive of Prosus, said: '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.
'With Prosus's strong technical and investment capabilities, combined with JET's leading brand position in key European markets, I'm confident this deal will create tremendous value for our customers, drivers, partners, and shareholders.'
Prosus will reportedly become the fourth-biggest food delivery business in the world if it completes the takeover.
Just Eat's shareholders will vote on the deal at an extraordinary general meeting in the Dutch capital on 8 July.
In addition to iFood, it owns stakes in takeaway operators like India's Swiggy, German firms Flink and Delivery Hero, and Middle East-focused Foodics.
Aside from takeaway companies, Prosus has holdings in education technology group Udemy, fintech business Remitly, and Chinese multimedia giant Tencent.
Just Eat's prospective acquisition comes just as Deliveroo has accepted a £2.9billion offer from Silicon Valley platform DoorDash.
Deliveroo's co-founder, Will Shu, is set to earn £172million from selling his stake in the firm, which made its first annual profit for the first time ever last year.
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