Takeaway Nears Final Victory in $8 Billion Just Eat Battle

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Takeaway.com NV is set to declare final victory in the five-month takeover battle for U.K. food-delivery company Just Eat Plc, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Investors holding more than half of Just Eat stock have indicated they’ll agree to Takeaway’s all-stock bid, which values the company at about 6 billion pounds ($7.8 billion), according to the people. The preliminary tally includes those who plan to formally tender in the coming days, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Takeaway’s proposal requires a majority of shareholders to accept in order to be successful. Crossing the 50% threshold would mean the bid, which has been recommended by the Just Eat board, has prevailed over a rival cash offer from Prosus NV.

Takeaway said Dec. 19 it had acceptances and commitments from investors holding 46.07% of Just Eat stock. Investors have until 1 p.m. London time on Jan. 10 to tender their shares.

Just Eat has been urging investors to accept the Takeaway bid, which will merge the two European food delivery companies and give the combined firm the scale to take on the likes of Deliveroo and Uber Eats. Shares of Just Eat were down 0.5% at 9:24 a.m. Monday in London, while shares of Takeaway were unchanged.

Representatives for Just Eat and Takeaway declined to comment, while a representative for Prosus said she couldn’t immediately comment.

Takeaway announced an all-stock bid for Just Eat in late July valuing the British company at about 731 pence per share. Prosus, a spinoff from South African media giant Naspers Ltd., countered with a cash offer in October.

After a rejection from Just Eat, Prosus publicly raised its bid twice before Takeaway announced its final offer in December of about 916 pence per share. Takeaway’s proposal has won support from shareholders including Aberdeen Standard Investments, which said the stock deal would let it maintain exposure to the fast-growing online food delivery market.

Source: Bloomberg Business News