Takeover bids intensify

JUST EAT: BID UPPED FOR FOOD DELIVERY FIRM

Prosus has raised its bid for UK food delivery firm Just Eat as it tries to win over investors and beat out an offer from rival Takeaway.com. The technology investment company, spun out of Naspers, increased its cash offer by 4.2% to 740 pence per share, valuing Just Eat at about £5.1 billion (about R97.9 billion), Prosus said in a statement yesterday.

Just Eat’s management has been encouraging investors to vote for Takeaway’s all-share deal, which would give them scale and access to Takeaway’s technology, arguing that Prosus’s offer undervalued the company even as a slide in Takeaway’s share price pushed down the value of its all-stock offer. As of Friday, after a month-long rally, Takeaway’s bid valued Just Eat shares at 710 pence each.

Shareholders have until December 27 to accept Prosus’s new offer. Prosus needs investors with more than 50% of shares to agree to the deal for it to go through.

Investors have been holding out for more. Just Eat’s shares have been trading above both offers. The stock rose 6.8 pence to 783.8 pence in London yesterday.

Aberdeen Standard Investments, which holds about 5% of Just Eat, said previously that Prosus needs to increase its offer by 20%. The investor also wanted Takeaway to increase its bid.

Eminence Capital, which holds about 4%, in September said Takeaway’s bid undervalued Just Eat and that it planned to vote against that deal.

Cat Rock Capital Management, which owns shares in both Takeaway and Just Eat, has been lobbying Just Eat holders to take the Takeaway deal and has said that the combination would create a company worth 1 200 pence per share by the end of next year.

– Bloomberg