Prosus to buy Just Eat Takeaway.com for nearly R80bn

Consumer internet group Prosus has agreed to buy Just Eat Takeaway.com for €4.1 billion (R79 billion) in the technology investor’s biggest deal to date. The all-cash deal at €20.30 a share is a 49% premium to the three-month volume-weighted average premium and will be paid in cash, the company said in a statement on Monday.Amsterdam-based Just Eat Takeaway.com operates in 17 international markets, connecting 61 million customers with more than 356 000 local partners. Prosus CEO Fabricio Bloisi said in January that the company has close to $20 billion to spend and is ready to grow in Europe.Bloisi is the former the CEO of Prosus-owned iFood, which is the biggest food delivery company in Latin America. The group also owns a stakes in Germany's Delivery Hero, Swiggy in India, as well as Mr D in South Africa.Speaking during a media call on Monday Blosi said the acquisition was aimed at creating a "tech champion" in Europe, while Prosus will be bringing a "growth mindset" and best-in-class artificial intelligence."We think Europe needs more investment, Europe needs more innovation, and Europe needs growth, and we think this deal offers all of that," he said."We are talking about investing here locally to have more innovation, more products, more artificial intelligence here in Europe," he said. "And I think we think this is very good for just its customers, for the restaurants, for the drivers, but also for the shareholders who are paying a reasonable premium," he said.The group also indicated that, while it is still eyeing acquisitions, it's focus will be on concluding the current deal. The group had also announced about a R30 billion deal for Latin America's leading online travel agency, Despegar, in late 2024."This deal, this is our focus," said Bloisi."We want to invest in areas that we know, food delivery is an area that we have been doing quite well over the last few years, we are doubling down on that.""We believe it's an attractive valuation because the size of delivering food delivery in Europe can be much bigger," he added."So, we are not looking forward to other big deals in food delivery or other acquisitions right now because we are going to deliver growth on those two acquisitions."Shares of Prosus and Naspers were down 7% on Monday morning on the JSE, while at the same time, major investee Tencent was down almost 4%. The Chinese tech giant has been boosted lately amid expectations of easing regulatory risks as well as optimism towards China's tech sector, which has been driven by the emergence of Deep Seek, which has disrupted the sector with the announcement of a low-cost, open-source model.-BLOOMBERG NEWS -This article has been updated with additional information and reporting by News24

Prosus to buy Just Eat Takeaway.com for nearly R80bn

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Namibian Sun 2025-02-25

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Prosus to buy Just Eat Takeaway.com for nearly R80bn

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Namibian Sun 2025-02-25

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