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Takeaway.com set to clinch Just Eat deal

The battle for Just Eat has rumbled on since the summer
December 20, 2019

The board of Just Eat (JE.) has urged shareholders to accept Takeaway.com’s merger offer and to reject an improved offer from Naspers. 

IC TIP: Accept at 789p

Takeaway.com’s improved and final bid for a tie-up with the food delivery group offers Just Eat shareholders 0.12111 Takeaway.com shares for each Just Eat share. Just Eat Shareholders will own around 57.5 per cent of the combined group. 

Based on Takeaway.com's closing share price of €88.90 (£75.53) on 18 December, the all-share offer is valued at 916p per share, which is above the counter cash per share offer of 800p offered by Prosus, Naspers’ Dutch-listed international investment unit. 

Takeaway.com’s bid currently has the support of 46 per cent of shareholders. It needs a simple majority of 50 per cent plus one to pass. Asset manager Cat Rock Capital, which owns 3 per cent of Just Eat and 6 per cent of Takeaway.com, called the deal “a fantastic win-win for both companies”. Cat Rock suggested that Just Eat shareholders could see their Just Eat shares rise to 1,300p per share in value by the end of 2020.

Just Eat said that a merger with Takeaway.com would deliver greater value to shareholders than Naspers’ proposal, arguing that the tie-up will offer it market-leading positions in 15 of the 23 countries where it operates. Helal Miah, investment research analyst at The Share Centre, said that the rival bid was “not really bringing much to the table in terms of longer term benefits, except for the higher cash for shares offer”.