The battle for control of Just Eat has intensified after fresh rival bids for the UK food delivery business.
Takeaway.com of the Netherlands upped its all-share merger offer to a deal worth 916p a share. The offer, which would create one of the biggest food delivery groups in the world, values Just Eat at nearly £6.3bn, up from a previous bid in the summer that valued the company’s shares at 731p each.
Prosus, the Amsterdam-listed offshoot of the South African technology group Naspers, had earlier raised its all-cash bid by £400m to £5.5bn, or 800p a share. The company previously made 740p- and 710p-per-share bids.
Takeaway.com’s offer would hand Just Eat shareholders a 58% stake in the merged company, up from 52% as previously offered. It is also offering to sell Just Eat’s stake in the Brazilian delivery company iFood, which Just Eat owns in partnership with Prosus, and return half of the proceeds to shareholders.
The company said shareholders representing 13.5% of Just Eat’s stock had accepted its offer by 18 December. Takeaway.com added that investors representing a further 27.5% had committed to accept its new deal, taking the total to 41%. At least half of Just Eat’s shareholders must accept the offer for the merger to go ahead.
Investors have until 10 January to decide whether to accept either the new Takeaway.com bid or the new Prosus bid. Both said they would not be increased further.
Jitse Groen, the chief executive of Takeaway.com, said: “This offer is a full offer, and on top of that we believe it provides Just Eat shareholders with tremendous upside.
“The all-share combination establishes the largest global platform in online food delivery outside China and allows shareholders of both Just Eat and Takeaway.com to benefit from significant long-term value creation.”
Prosus said its cash bid was a “compelling proposition” for Just Eat investors but admitted less than 0.5% had accepted its offer.
“This [bid] delivers outstanding and certain value to Just Eat shareholders, while also providing an appropriate return for our own shareholders, given strong levels of competition and significant investment required to reinvigorate growth. We urge Just Eat shareholders to accept this final offer and bring the uncertainty around Just Eat’s future to a close,” said Bob van Dijk, the group chief executive of Prosus.
Just Eat’s board said it was reviewing both offers and would issue a statement in future. It advised shareholders not to act in the meantime.
