By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Dutch technology investor Prosus gained European Union antitrust approval on Monday for its 4.1 billion euro ($4.76 billion) bid for Just Eat Takeaway, after agreeing to sell down its stake in Delivery Hero.
Amsterdam-headquartered Prosus, which is majority owned by South Africa’s Naspers, announced the deal in February, banking on its artificial intelligence capability to boost Just Eat Takeaway, Europe’s biggest meal delivery company.
The European Commission, which acts as the EU competition enforcer, said Naspers offered to significantly reduce its 27.4% stake in Delivery Hero to below a specified very low percentage within 12 months, confirming a Reuters story.
Naspers also pledged not to exercise the voting rights with its remaining limited stake in Delivery Hero and also not to increase its stake beyond the specified maximum level. It will not recommend or propose any person to Delivery Hero’s management and supervisory boards.
Prosus said the EU decision was the final regulatory approval needed to close the offer which ends on October 1 and that if all offer conditions including the acceptance threshold for the deal are met by that date, it will declare its offer unconditional within three business days.
“Our ambition is clear: to build a true European tech champion and lead the next chapter in food delivery innovation,” Prosus CEO Fabricio Bloisi said in a statement.
EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said Naspers’ concessions will preserve competition and consumer choice.
“This decision also sends a clear warning to an industry with recent antitrust issues: we won’t tolerate any anti-competitive behaviour that may harm consumers,” she said.
Delivery Hero and its Spanish unit Glovo were fined 329 million euros by the EU antitrust watchdog in June for taking part in a cartel which included an agreement to divide up markets among themselves and not to poach each other’s employees.
The deal would make Prosus the world’s fourth-largest food delivery company after Meituan, DoorDash and Uber, according to ING analysts.
($1 = 0.8607 euros)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
