Battle for Just Eat hots up as Prosus, Takeaway.com sweeten bids

The battle for Just Eat intensified late on Thursday after Prosus and Takeaway.com sweetened their bids for the London-listed food delivery firm.

Prosus - which was spun off from South African conglomerate Naspers - upped its bid to 800p a share in cash from 740p, or from £5.1bn to £5.5bn. Not long after, Dutch outfit Takeaway.com increased its offer to 916p a share from 705p. The revised Takeaway.com offer would also mean that Just Eat shareholders would own 57.5% of the combined entity, up from 52.1% previously.

Prosus chief executive officer Bob van Dijk, said: "Following extensive discussions with Just Eat's and Prosus's shareholders, we have decided to make a final increase in our cash offer to 800p per share. This level delivers outstanding and certain value to Just Eat shareholders while also providing an appropriate return for our own shareholders, given strong levels of competition and significant investment required to reinvigorate growth."

Takeaway.com’s CEO, Jitse Groen, said: "We have brought forward our best and final offer for Just Eat, worth 916 pence per share based on our share price at yesterday's close. This offer is a full offer, and on top of that we believe it provides Just Eat shareholders with tremendous upside. The all-share combination establishes the largest global platform in online food delivery outside China and allows shareholders of both Just Eat and Takeaway.com to benefit from significant long-term value creation."

Takeaway.com said that it had received acceptances from shareholders owning 41% of Just Eat. It had set a 50% threshold for securing the deal.

Just Eat shares closed up 2.6% at 823.20p.