Hedge fund orders a Just Eat merge deal
A LEADING investor has urged Just Eat to merge with a rival rather than appoint a new chief executive.
US hedge fund Cat Rock Capital, which owns about 2 per cent of the online takeaway service, cast doubt over the firm’s ability to find the right leader following last month’s departure of chief executive Peter Plumb.
Plumb, who ran Moneysupermarket for eight years, quit last month after just 16 months at Just Eat, which fell out of the FTSE 100 in December.
Cat Rock, which has held shares in Just Eat for about two years, has already described it as the worst-performing online food firm in the world and wants it to sell off non-core assets.
It said Plumb had “eviscerated management ranks” and had made “poor strategic and operating decisions”.
Its founder and managing partner Alex Captain said: “Just Eat is a high-quality business with fantastic growth prospects.
“The board’s experiment of appointing an industry outsider like Mr Plumb to the CEO role failed miserably and destroyed shareholder value. Now Just Eat needs a world-class management team with online food delivery experience and proven delivery capabilities. A merger is an obvious path. There would be significant strategic interest from other industry participants and we urge the board to swiftly and seriously engage in merger discussions to create value for all shareholders.” Cat Rock expressed dismay over Just Eat’s handling of the departure and replacement of Chris Simair, who ran the Canadian arm.
It also highlighted the lack of online food delivery experience of Peter Duffy, who is running the group as interim CEO and is thought to be under consideration for the permanent role.
Just Eat said: “We are carrying out a thorough CEO appointment process and will update the market as appropriate.”
Just Eat shares rose 26¾p to 730¾p.