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Prosus, the new Naspers-owned [JSE:NPN] global digital company, believes it has made a compelling offer to shareholders in the UK-based food delivery company Just Eat - better than the Dutch bid currently on the table.
Prosus announced the terms of its all-cash offer for Just Eat earlier on Tuesday, saying it decided to approach Just Eat shareholders directly after negotiations with Just Eat management did not lead to an agreement. It said the deal values Just Eat at £4.9bn (R93bn).
Just Eat has 27m customers, and 107 000 participating restaurants, in the UK, Australia, France, Brazil and other markets. It was founded in Denmark in 2001 by five entrepreneurs and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Last year, the group processed almost R80bn in orders.
"We believe the Just Eat shareholders will appreciate our offer. This is another big step for Naspers and Prosus as we keep moving forward," Basil Sgourdos, CFO of Naspers and Prosus, told a media briefing on Tuesday afternoon.
Just Eat is currently subject to a share offer by Takeaway.com, a Dutch food delivery company active in 10 European countries and Israel. In July this year Just Eat and Takeaway.com announced that they have reached an agreement in principle a possible all-share combination of Just Eat and Takeaway.com.
Sgourdos, however, pointed out that the Prosus offer represents a 20% premium to the 594p-per-share that Just East agreed with Takeaway earlier this year. In terms of the Prosus offer, Just Eat shareholders will be entitled to receive 710 pence in cash.
Prosus owns a number of food delivery businesses, including iFood in Latin America, Swiggy in India, and Delivery Hero, which operates in 41 markets.
"We believe we offer good value to the shareholders of Just Eat. We believe by bringing Just Eat into our family, it will provide Just Eat with everything it needs to achieve significant growth, value creation and to be the leader in the food delivery business," said Sgourdos.
"Food delivery is a space we know well and are very excited about. We are in it for the long run and see huge potential in giving consumers more affordable offerings and more choice."
Sgourdos said Prosus has sufficient "financial flexibility" to be able to put more money into Just Eat if need be once the deal goes through.
"We only make investments on which we will see good returns. We made it clear to the Just Eat management that we think they are key in creating the value we see in the deal. We want to create alignment going forward," said Sgourdos.
"We usually give people running a business incentive share schemes to allow them to share in the value that they create from that point onwards."
* Fin24 is part of 24.com, which is in the Naspers-owned Media24 stable.
