Prosus agrees to buy food delivery giant Just Eat in €4.1bn deal

Just Eat reported 36% rise in profits in 2024 on Monday, buoyed by Irish and UK markets

Prosus has agreed to buy Just Eat which has a major presence in Ireland and 16 other international markets in a deal worth €4.1bn. (Picture: Naoise Culhane)

Investment group Prosus has agreed to buy Just Eat Takeaway.com for €4.1bn, which operates in Ireland and 16 other international markets, the technology investor’s biggest deal to date as it pursues new growth opportunities. 

The all-cash deal at €20.30 a share is a 49% premium to the three-month volume-weighted average price, the company said in a statement on Monday. The stock closed at €12.43 on Friday.

The purchase marks an aggressive move by Prosus chief executive Fabricio Bloisi to grow the business, which is perhaps still best known for its 2001 investment in China game giant Tencent Holdings. Prosus, through South African parent Naspers Ltd., paid $34m (€32.3m) for a stake in Tencent that is now worth more than $140bn (€133bn).

Brazil-born Bloisi, who was appointed to the top job last year, said in January that the company has close to $20bn to spend and is ready to grow in Europe. This will be his second large deal as he pushes to double the firm’s value in the next four years. “My plan after this transaction is to grow all our businesses faster - and we believe we can grow faster with JustEat Takeaway,” he said in an interview.

Bloisi, who runs both Prosus and Naspers, has extensive experience in the delivery sector. He previously built up Brazil’s iFood to the biggest online food-delivery company in the country.

Just Eat has 61 million customers with more than 356,000 local partners. A 2023 report by Just Eat in Ireland found that consumers in the country spent an estimated €2.2bn annually on food delivery as customers spent an average of €46.69 on takeaways per month.

Bloomberg