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Prosus’s food delivery portfolio includes Germany-based Delivery Hero, Brazil’s iFood and China’s Meituan.
Dutch technology investor Prosus is set to purchase Just Eat Takeaway for €4.1bn, in a deal that would create the “fourth largest food delivery group globally”. As per the conditional agreement, Just Eat Takeaway’s entire issued capital will be acquired by Prosus in a cash offer at €20.30 per share.
Prosus has invested more than $10bn in the food delivery business worldwide. The company is the full owner of Latin America’s iFood and has a 28pc stake in Germany’s Delivery Hero as well as an approximate 4pc stake in China’s Meituan – “the world’s largest food delivery business”.
The latest acquisition announced today (24 February) will allow Prosus to expand its European food delivery portfolio, and according to the company, it is well positioned to “unlock” Just Eat Takeaway’s value and build on its success in the UK, Germany and Netherlands.
“We are excited for Just Eat Takeaway.com to join the Prosus Group and the opportunity to create a European tech champion,” said Fabricio Bloisi, Prosus’s CEO.
“Prosus already has an extensive food delivery portfolio outside of Europe and a proven track record of profitable growth through investment in our customer and driver experiences, restaurant partnerships and world-class logistics, powered by innovation and AI [artificial intelligence].
“We believe that combining Prosus’s strong technical and investment capabilities with Just Eat Takeaway.com’s leading brand position in key European markets will create significant value for our customers, drivers, partners and shareholders.”
Jitse Groen, Just Eat Takeaway’s CEO, is hopeful about its acquisition by Prosus.
“Just Eat Takeaway.com is now a faster growing, more profitable and predominantly European-based business. Prosus fully supports our strategic plans, and its extensive resources will help to further accelerate our investments and growth across food, groceries, fintech and other adjacencies. We are looking forward to an exciting future together.”
Just Eat Takeaway has had a few rocky years recently. Last November, the company sold its US arm Grubhub to New York-based Wonder Group for $650m, just four years after purchasing it for $7.3bn.
The company had purchased Grubhub in 2020 when the demand for contactless food deliveries was high due to pandemic restrictions. However, the purchase proved to be unprofitable, even eliciting a warning from Cat Rock Capital, one of Just Eat Takeaway’s largest shareholders, about the possibility of a hostile takeover and urged management to consider divesting assets or merging with a larger rival to keep the business profitable.
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