Prosus gets green light for Just Eat Takeaway acquisition

Prosus has received the European Commission’s approval to acquire Just Eat Takeaway.com, albeit on condition that the technology group more than halves its stake in Delivery Hero.

“AI is changing meal delivery”

In February, Prosus made a bid of more than four billion euros for meal delivery company Just Eat Takeaway.com (JET). With the green light from the European Commission, the buyer now has the final regulatory approval needed to complete the bid sooner than expected.

Prosus says it wants to continue building a European tech ecosystem through which it aims to lead in meal delivery. “AI is rapidly reshaping food delivery”, CEO Fabricio Bloisi said in a press release. “By rolling out AI solutions on a European scale, JET can serve millions of consumers even better.”

Avoiding competition problems

There was an important condition attached to the approval, however: Naspers, Prosus’ South African parent company, undertakes to reduce its 27.4 % stake in Delivery Hero to less than 10 % within twelve months. Furthermore, Prosus and Naspers will no longer appoint or nominate their affiliates to the management, supervisory board or other governing bodies of Delivery Hero.

The European Commission is very apprehensive about competition problems in the meal delivery sector: this was demonstrated well two months ago when Delivery Hero and Glovo were fined heavily for colluding while still competitors.