Prosus' bid for Just Eat Takeaway.com extended due to longer competition authority probe

Prosus on Tuesday extended its public offer to acquire all of Just Eat Takeaway.com (JET) to October 1, 2025, to align with a revised competition clearance timeline set by the European Commission for the R81.6 billion transaction.

Prosus had offered €20.30 per share for JET in February, with the original closing date August 19, 2025. The JSE and Amsterdam-listed Naspers subsidiary said on Tuesday that the timeline had been extended to accommodate “the ongoing regulatory review by the European Commission under the EU Merger Regulation.”

According to the Techcentral website, Prosus recently offered to sell down its shareholding in Germany-based Delivery Hero, where it is the biggest shareholder, from about 27.4% to below 10%, to help smooth the way for regulatory approvals for the JET acquisition. The report cited unnamed sources claiming that the European Commission had pressed Prosus to either reduce or divest its stake in Delivery Hero.

At the time the JET transaction was announced, JSE analysts had told BR that they had questions about why Prosus wished to take over JET, considering Prosus already held a major shareholding in a competing food delivery firm in Europe, Delivery Hero.

Meanwhile, last month, Delivery Hero had reached a settlement agreement, which included a €329 million fine, with the European Commission in another investigation, that began in 2022, and which focused on agreements to allocate geographic markets, exchanges of commercially sensitive information, and no-poach agreements between Delivery and Barcelona-based delivery platform Glovo, prior to Delivery Hero’s acquisition of Glovo.

“Currently, the European Commission is expected to issue its decision regarding the transaction on August 11, 2025. The Closing Date, as referred to in the Offer Memorandum, will therefore be extended to 1 October…to allow JET shareholders sufficient time to tender their shares into the Offer,” Prosus and JET said in a joint announcement.

Competition clearance from the European Commission is the only outstanding regulatory clearance required for the transaction to proceed. “Prosus and JET continue to work closely and constructively with the European Commission to satisfy this,” the companies said.

JET, the Amsterdam-based on-demand delivery group, is focused on connecting consumers and partners through its platforms. With 356 000 partners, JET offers consumers a variety of choices from restaurants to retail, with operations in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the UK.

Prosus, which owns lifestyle e-commerce brands across Europe, India, and Latin America, already has a strong track record in food delivery.

Its food businesses span more than 70 countries and include full ownership of iFood, a leading Latin American food delivery platform; the stake in Delivery Hero; an approximate 4% stake in Meituan, the global food delivery business; and a 25% interest in Swiggy, one of India's largest food and grocery delivery platforms, which recently completed a successful IPO in that country.

Prosus’ share price inched up 0.87% to R1 064.68 on the JSE Tuesday afternoon, but the share price has rallied strongly by over 68% over 12 months. Naspers’ share price was up 0.67% to R5 789.60, and over 12 months, it has rallied over 66%.

BUSINESS REPORT