Oct 24, 2019

Prosus offers $6.3 billion to buy British food delivery company

Dan Primack

Just Eat courier. Photo: Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images

Prosus, a listed Dutch Internet group controlled by Naspers, offered $6.3 billion in cash to buy British food delivery company Just Eat (LSE: JE), which previously agreed to an all-stock takeover by Takeaway.com.

Why it matters: This illustrates the competitive risks of all-stock buyout offers. Takeaway's original bid valued Just Eat shares at 731 pence each, but Takeaway's subsequent stock slump reduced that value by nearly 19% to just 594 pence. Prosus, meanwhile, is offering 710 pence per Just Eat share.

The state of play: Just Eat's board has already rejected Prosus' unsolicited bid, claiming it "significantly" undervalues the company. If we assume that Just Eat has enough abacuses to calculate that 710 > 594, their argument must be that synergies with Takeaway could make shareholders richer in the long-term. Don't be surprised if some major Just Eat backers would prefer the bird in hand.

The bottom line: "Naspers has made little secret of its ambitions to become a global presence in internet food delivery. The group controls Latin America’s biggest food delivery app iFood, in which it is partnered with Just Eat as an investor. It has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in India’s Swiggy." — The Financial Times

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Prosus offers $6.3 billion to buy British food delivery company

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