Yahoo Finance Just Eat: Prosus ups offer to £5.1bn in Takeaway.com battle
The battle for control of UK food delivery firm Just Eat has intensified as rival bidder Prosus raised its offer to £5.1bn.
Prosus is seeking to break up the merger agreed in July between Just Eat and Dutch rival Takeaway.com, a deal that would create one of the world’s biggest online food delivery companies.
Prosus, the Amsterdam-listed offshoot of South African technology group Naspers, launched a rival 710p a share cash offer in October and has raised its terms to 740p a share, further above Takeaway.com’s offer. It argued that its bid was “the only one that delivers certainty in the face of undeniable industry change”.
The Prosus chief executive, Bob van Dijk, said: “Following the announcement of our offer, we have had the opportunity to listen to the views of Just Eat Shareholders, share our perspective on the global food delivery sector and reflect on the unquestionable challenges Just Eat faces, as clearly seen in its third-quarter results.
“We have also had extensive discussions with our own shareholders with regards to our long term strategy for food delivery and Just Eat’s role within that.”
Prosus reduced the level of acceptances required from 75% to a simple majority (50% plus one Just Eat share). Shareholders have until 1pm on 27 December to make up their minds.
Takeaway.com was swift to respond, claiming its all-share offer was still “far superior”. The board of Just Eat has continued to recommend the Dutch offer despite higher terms from Prosus.
Just Eat shares closed at 777p on Friday, valuing the company at £5.3bn, and rose to 784.4p on Monday morning.
Last week, Cat Rock, a top 10 Just Eat shareholder, backed Takeaway.com’s bid, saying it would only support Prosus if its offer were raised to 925p per share.
Prosus became Europe’s biggest listed consumer internet firm when it floated on the Amsterdam stock exchange with a value of more than €100bn (£84bn) in September, and is controlled by Naspers, one of Africa’s most valuable companies.
With growing competition from Uber Eats and Deliveroo, there have been a number of deals in the fast-growing online food delivery market. Just Eat bought UK rival HungryHouse in January 2018, while Takeaway.com acquired Delivery Hero’s food delivery business in Germany last December.
