Naspers-owned Prosus and Just Eat Takeaway.com are making good progress on the preparations for the offer by the former to acquire the latter, one of Europe’s largest food delivery businesses.
In February, Prosus announced it had reached an agreement to acquire Just Eat Takeaway.com for €4.1bn ($4.3bn or about R79bn at the time), in what is its largest investment yet.
Prosus said on Monday it had submitted a request for review and approval of the offer memorandum to the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM).
The group, listed on the Euronext and JSE, said the transaction had a compelling rationale, offering Just Eat Takeaway.com shareholders an attractive cash premium while providing Prosus a unique opportunity to create an AI-first European tech champion.
“With Prosus’ investment, technology and extensive expertise, Just Eat Takeaway.com will be well positioned to strengthen its brands and operations, enhance its AI capabilities, and drive future growth well beyond its stand-alone potential,” Prosus said in a statement.
In 2020, Naspers and the Amsterdam-listed unit failed to secure a high-profile bid for Just Eat, losing out to Takeaway.com, which paid $8bn.
At the time, Prosus’ £5bn bid, about R98bn then, was seen as a sign of an ambitious strategy to build a bigger food delivery business to take on Silicon Valley giant Uber Eats and Amazon-backed Deliveroo.
While Prosus is now under new management, led by CEO Fabricio Bloisi, its ambition to build a European food delivery powerhouse has remained.
This time, though, it acquires a bigger entity: the combined Just Eat and Takeaway.com, at a lower price, all with the benefit of lessons learnt since the first attempt.
Prosus chief investment officer Ervin Tu recently told Business Day the Naspers stable was confident in its ability to build a European food delivery powerhouse, despite low economic growth and a perceived lack of innovation in the region.
Despite Just Eat Takeaway.com operating in mature economies, Prosus sees growth potential, given lower penetration rates for food delivery services.
Tu said groceries, fintech and e-commerce-related offerings were possibilities on the table to push growth in the business.
The group recently released a report making a case for creating and growing technology backed ecosystems in Europe.
Operating in 17 international markets, Just Eat Takeaway.com connects about 61-million customers with more than 356,000 local partners.
Under the agreement, Prosus will offer an all-cash price of €20.30 per share for the entire issued share capital of Just Eat Takeaway.com. This price represented a 49% premium over Just Eat Takeaway.com’s three-month, volume-weighted average price on February 21, and a 22% premium over its three-month highest closing price, the groups said at the time the offer was made.
The acquisition will be funded through Prosus’ existing cash resources.
As previously communicated, the offer is expected to commence in the second quarter of 2025 and is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals. Settlement was expected to take place by year-end, Prosus said.
With Nompilo Goba
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.