Prosus Group is set to acquire Amsterdam-based food delivery conglomerate JustEat Takeaway, the parent company of Winnipeg-based SkipTheDishes, in a deal valued at approximately 4.1 billion euros ($6.2 billion CAD).
Prosus will pay 20.30 euros ($30.50 CAD) in cash for all issued and outstanding shares of JustEat Takeaway, which is publicly traded on the Euronext Amsterdam (AMS) stock exchange, and take the company private upon completion. The price represents a 63-percent premium on JustEat Takeaway’s closing price of 12.43 euros per share before the deal was announced. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2025.
A joint statement by the companies said the transaction provides an opportunity to couple Prosus’ investment expertise, tech and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities with Just Eat Takeaway’s brand strength and solid fundamentals.
JustEat Takeaway delisted its shares from the London Stock Exchange and sold its GrubHub subsidiary at a loss in recent months.
The acquisition appears to be part of an overall Europe strategy for Prosus. Prosus CEO Fabricio Bloisi said in a statement the merger is an “opportunity to create a European tech champion,” and will combine Prosus’s technical and investment capabilities with Just Eat Takeaway’s leading brand position in key European markets. Prosus said that opportunities exist to use AI to improve the customer and driver experience, boost service reliability, and optimize logistics at JustEat.
While neither SkipTheDishes nor the Canadian market is acknowledged in the joint statement, Prosus has agreed to comply with a set of non-financial covenants for at least two years after the transaction has settled. As part of these commitments, Prosus does not intend to implement a break-up strategy or make material reductions in the total workforce, and will maintain Just Eat Takeaway’s key brands.
SkipTheDishes was founded in 2012 in Saskatoon, but has long had its headquarters in Winnipeg. The company was acquired by United Kingdom-based Just Eat in 2016 for $110 million, before being merged into Dutch food delivery company Takeaway.com in 2020. According to Forbes, Prosus had attempted to hijack the JustEat and Takeaway.com merger in 2019 with a failed $6.4 billion bid for JustEat.
The acquisition agreement follows a wave of layoffs that affected approximately 100 SkipTheDishes employees and 700 Canada-based employees of JustEat Takeaway in August 2024 after the latter performed a “comprehensive review.” SkipThe Dishes had previously reduced its workforce by 350 employees due to a similar “comprehensive review” at JustEat Takeaway in 2022.
RELATED: JustEat, SkipTheDishes lay off 800 Canada-based employees following “comprehensive review”
SkipTheDishes also had a tumultuous 2023 under JustEat Takeaway’s leadership, starting with the replacement of CEO Howard Midgal in March 2023, who departed to lead JustEat’s Grubhub subsidiary after just five months as the head of SkipTheDishes. Midgal’s successor, Steve Puchala, retired after just nine months on the job, leading to the external hire of former Twitter Canada managing director Paul Burns in December 2023.
In the past few months, JustEat Takeaway delisted its shares from the London Stock Exchange to save administrative burden and cut costs, and completed the sale of its American subsidiary, GrubHub, to New York-based delivery chain Wonder for $650 million USD. JustEat Takeaway acquired GrubHub in 2021 for $7.3 billion USD.
After pandemic-fuelled growth, food delivery giants Deliveroo, JustEat Takeaway, Delivery Hero and DoorDash took more than $20 billion USD in combined operating losses since they publicly listed, the Financial Times reported in early 2024.
Feature image courtesy SkipTheDishes via LinkedIn.