UK: Naspers pushes ahead with hostile Just Eat takeover

Prosus, the European arm of South African technology investment firm Naspers, on Monday, November 11, forged ahead with its hostile £4.9 billion (US$5.4 billion) takeover of online delivery giant Just Eat.

Prosus, which is Europe’s largest consumer internet company, published the full terms of its all-cash offer for the company, arguing that it had made an “attractive and fair” offer that would offer shareholders “certainty.”

The offer clashes with the proposed all-share merger of Just Eat and the Dutch Takeaway.com, a tie-up that both companies have argued creates more value for shareholders.

Just Eat shareholders will now vote on which offer to accept, even though the company’s board has unanimously advised them to reject the offer from Prosus.

Prosus is majority owned by Naspers, and launched on the Amsterdam stock exchange in early September.

In July, the London-based Just Eat announced that it had agreed to merge with Takeaway.com, creating a European food delivery giant with roughly 360 million global takeaway orders. But the plan has been thrown into a spin by the Prosus offer.

Full Content: Financial Times, PYMNTS

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