Naspers’ Prosus Makes R94bn Bid For Just Eat

Prosus on Tuesday announced a rival bid for the U.K. based food delivery service Just Eat.

The Euronext and JSE-listed company has made a bid of 4.9 billion pounds ($6.35 billion or R94 billion) or 710 pence a share, in cash.

Just Eat is looking to complete a merger with Takeaway.com.

The Naspers-owned firm said offer represents a premium of 20% to the bid from Takeaway.com.

“We believe our global experience and resources can help Just Eat to achieve its significant potential. Our plan is to support the Just Eat management team, with whom we have worked closely as joint investors in iFood, to deliver on the exciting opportunities to grow the business,” said Bob van Dijk, the Group CEO of Prosus.

“We believe that Just Eat’s customers and restaurant partners will ultimately benefit from more delivery options, greater restaurant choice as well as improved service and delivery speeds driven by the combined group’s expertise in product and technology innovation supported by increased capital investment in the business. As a combined group, we see significant growth and value creation potential.

“We presented this idea to the Board of Just Eat, in good faith, but we have been unable to engage constructively in what we see as a compelling proposition for Just Eat shareholders.

“As an investor and operator with significant experience in this dynamic and competitive sector, both globally and on a local level, we believe we are best placed to support Just Eat through its next phase of essential investment. We aim to deliver value by eliminating operational execution risk and providing certainty for Just Eat’s shareholders today at an attractive premium.”

Prosus is a strategic global investor and operator focused on creating long-term value by building and scaling consumer internet businesses through organic growth and strategic M&A. It aims to build strong companies that create value by addressing big societal needs in high-growth markets with long-term potential.

Prosus believes that the terms of its all-cash offer provide certainty and compelling value for Just Eat shareholders.

Just Eat operates a global marketplace for food delivery operating across 13 markets. Just Eat has leading market positions in many of these markets, with a history of profitable growth driven largely by its best in the class marketplace model.

“We understand that Just Eat management considers growing its own delivery proposition an important part of their strategy for the business,” said Prosus.

Prosus intends to invest in Just Eat and believes that due to its global food delivery experience and own delivery expertise, it is better positioned to drive the next phase of Just Eat’s growth and deliver Just Eat’s long term potential.

“The offer is an important step towards achieving Prosus’s ambition to build the world’s leading food delivery business and the next logical step for the longstanding, successful iFood investment partnership between Prosus and Just Eat in Latin America,” the company informed investors on Tuesday.

The company owns big food delivery brands such as iFood, Swiggy and DeliveryHero.

Prosus came to market in September 2019 through the listing of the international internet assets of Naspers, a global consumer internet group and remains 74.06% owned by Naspers.

Its businesses and investments serve more than 1.5 billion people in 89 markets and are amongst the leading players in 77 of those markets. The group directly employs more than 20,000 people globally, with many more employed by its associates.

The Just Eat Group operates a leading global hybrid marketplace for online Food Delivery, connecting over 27 million consumers with more than 107,000 restaurant partners across the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and Brazil.

Founded in Denmark in 2001 by five entrepreneurs, Just Eat is a FTSE 100 listed company and one of the leaders in online and mobile food ordering.