Prosus nears EU nod for $4.7b Just Eat Takeaway deal

Prosus is expected to receive EU antitrust approval for its €4.1 billion (US$4.7 billion) acquisition of Just Eat Takeaway.

The Amsterdam-based tech investment firm, majority owned by South Africa’s Naspers, agreed to gradually sell down its 27.4% stake in Delivery Hero and give up its board seat to address regulators’ concerns.

Delivery Hero and Just Eat Takeaway both operate in several European countries, including Austria, Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, and Spain.

The European Commission is reviewing Prosus’ commitments and will decide by August 11.

If completed, the deal would make Prosus the world’s fourth-largest food delivery firm, behind Meituan, DoorDash, and Uber.

🔗 Source: Reuters

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Food delivery consolidation accelerates as companies seek scale advantages

The Prosus-Just Eat deal continues a clear pattern of major consolidation in the food delivery sector driven by the need for operational efficiency and market dominance.

Just Eat has been through this process before. In 2019, it merged with Dutch competitor Takeaway.com in a £9 billion deal that sent its share price soaring 22.7% in a single day1.

That earlier merger was specifically driven by activist investor Cat Rock Capital, which held stakes in both companies and pushed for consolidation to enhance shareholder value1.

The strategic logic remains consistent: food delivery companies are chasing the scale needed to compete effectively in a market projected to grow at 21.7% annually, significantly faster than the broader foodservice industry’s 5.9% growth rate2.

Takeaway.com’s acquisition of Just Eat was expected to generate $22.2 million in cost savings over four years, demonstrating how consolidation creates immediate operational benefits3.

This trend extends beyond Just Eat, with companies like Alibaba also acquiring competitors to strengthen their market positions in what remains a highly fragmented global industry2.

2️⃣ EU antitrust scrutiny intensifies amid merger guideline overhaul

Prosus’s concession to sell down its Delivery Hero stake reflects heightened EU competition enforcement, occurring during the Commission’s most significant merger policy review in two decades.