Just Eat Snubs $6.3B Prosus Offer; Will Move Forward With Takeaway Merger

Just Eat has turned down a hostile £4.9 billion ($6.3 billion) cash bid from Prosus, the Amsterdam arm of the South African tech conglomerate Naspers, as reported on Monday (Nov. 11).

Despite opposition from some shareholders, the London-based Just Eat wants to move forward with an all-share combination merger with Amsterdam rival Takeaway. The deal with Takeaway was agreed upon in July and is supported by Just Eat’s board.

Amsterdam-headquartered Prosus said this third offer is the final bid for Just Eat, and that it is not interested in buying Takeaway should the two food delivery services merge.

Just Eat asked its shareholders to vote against the Prosus offer, even though the Prosus deal is 20 percent higher than Takeaway.com’s offer.

“The Board believes that Just Eat is a leading strategic asset in the food delivery sector, and the Prosus Offer fails to appropriately reflect the quality of Just Eat and its attractive assets and prospects, the benefits of first-mover advantage in a consolidating sector, and the significant future upside available to Just Eat shareholders through remaining invested in Just Eat and the Takeaway.com Combination,” it noted in a statement.

“The Board of Just Eat believes that the Takeaway.com Combination is based on a compelling strategic rationale that will deliver a number of strategic benefits and greater value creation to Just Eat shareholders than the terms of the Prosus Offer. Accordingly, the Board of Just Eat continues to unanimously recommend the Takeaway.com Combination to Just Eat shareholders.”

Earlier this month, Takeaway.com changed the structure of its offer. The previous deal offered to Just Eat required 75 percent of both sets of shareholders to agree to the bid. The new deal on the table lowers the threshold to anything above 50 percent of the company’s shares, potentially making it easier to close.

A Takeaway and Just Eat merger would produce one of the largest food delivery operations outside of China.