Just Eat to be acquired by Prosus for 4.1 billion euros

The investment arm of South African technology company Naspers, Prosus, has announced the purchase of the company delivery Just Eat for 4.1 billion euros. The operation, when made public, has boosted Just Eat shares by more than 50% on the Dutch stock exchange this Monday. Specifically, Prosus has reached a "conditional" agreement to make a recommended public offer on 100% of Just Eat shares for this price.

Naspers already controls 28% of the German platform Delivery Hero, owner of Glovo since 2022, and already tried to buy Just Eat before the pandemic with an offer of 5.5 billion pounds (about 6.64 billion euros), but finally it was the Dutch company Takeaway.com that took over the company. delivery In 2020, Prosus CEO Fabricio Bloisi was also the head of the food delivery app iFood.

This operation is part of the growing trend of slimming down the food delivery sector. delivery, which is increasingly playing with fewer players. The takeaway food sector is also not going through its best moment in the State, with a substantial contraction of business after years of unstoppable growth driven by the Covid pandemic. In addition to its share of Delivery Hero, Naspers also controls 25% of the Indian food delivery company Swiggy and 4% of the Chinese Meituan.

Escalation in the markets

The news sent Just Eat Takeaway.com up 53.76% on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, trading at a price of 19.105 euros per share. The euphoria also hit Delivery Hero shares, which rose by as much as 10% in the morning, and by midday were already down to 5.3%.

The biggest loser on the markets, however, is Prosus, whose shares have fallen by up to 7%, leaving its market capitalisation close to the 100 billion euro barrier.

Amsterdam-based Just Eat Takeaway.com currently operates in 17 international markets and connects 61 million customers with more than 356,000 local partners.