Dutch Food Delivery Juggernaut Claims Victory in £5.9 Billion Just Eat Deal

A Dutch food delivery juggernaut is set to acquire Just Eat for £5.9 billion. Takeaway dot com reached agreement on its takeover deal today, according to Propel, with the required 80.4 percent of Just Eat shareholders agreeing to a deal that values the company at 916 pence per share.

Just Eat’s sheer U.K. scale and rootedness has allowed it to hold fast while Uber Eats and Deliveroo make major strides in brand recognition. A MCA report in early 2019 that valued the U.K. food delivery market at £8.1 billion concluded that while Uber Eats — which launched in London in 2016 — had gained 24.2 percentage points on its awareness score, with Just Eat up 12.5 percentage points, Just Eat grew its actual market share by 11 percent to 28 percent.

Takeaway chief executive Jitse Groen said: “I am thrilled our offer for Just Eat has now formally reached an acceptance level of 80.4%. I wish to thank everybody involved but especially the Just Eat staff for their patience in what must have been an uncertain time. Just Eat Takeaway.com is a dream combination and I look forward to leading the company for many years to come.” Groen will be a relieved man, concluding a bidding war with South African firm Prosus that has been running since the summer, when Takeaway appeared to have sealed its approach.

More soon on what this means for Just Eat and restaurant delivery.