Just Eat shareholders approve Takeaway.com takeover

The battle for Just Eat ended on Friday as shareholders of the online food delivery service approved a £6.3bn merger with Dutch rival Takeaway.com.

Takeaway.com said 80.4% of Just Eat shareholders had agreed to its offer, comfortably surpassing the 50% threshold needed to make the offer unconditional.

Chief executive officer Jitse Groen said: "Just Eat Takeaway.com is a dream combination and I am very much looking forward to leading the company for many years to come."

In December, Just Eat rejected a final enhanced takeover offer from South Africa's Prosus, saying that it continued to believe the combination with Takeaway.com was based on "a compelling strategic rationale that allows shareholders to participate in the upside potential of the enlarged group".

Prosus - which was spun off from South African conglomerate Naspers - had sweetened its bid to 800p a share in cash from 740p, or from £5.1bn to £5.5bn. This in turn led Takeaway.com to bump up its offer to 916p a share from 705p.