The British meals-delivery company Just Eat and Takeaway.com of the Netherlands announced on Monday that they have agreed on the terms of their merger.
The two groups had revealed last week that they had reached an agreement-in-principle on the operation. In a press release on Monday, they explained that they had come to a formal agreement on the terms of merger, which should be completed by the end of the year.
The boards of directors of the two companies are now recommending that their shareholders approve the fusion, which would transform the new group into a significant competitor for Deliveroo and Uber Eats.
Under the terms of the agreement, the operation will be concluded through share exchanges. The shares of the two companies combined have a total value of 9 billion pounds.
Just Eat shareholders will own 52.2% of the merged company, while the remaining 47.8% will be held by holders of Takeaway.com shares.
The group, which will bear the name of Just Eat Takeaway.com, will be headquartered in Amsterdam and will be run by the current Dutch director general. It will be quoted on the London and Amsterdam stock exchanges.
The two groups are in the process of creating a global heavyweight with 355 million orders a year and a turnover of 7.3 billion euros, with a presence in countries such as the U.K., Germany, the Netherlands and Canada.
According to Takeaway Director-General Jitse Groen, the merger is creating one of the most important and powerful Internet meal-delivery sites in the world.
Mike Evans, chairman of the Just Eats board of directors, described the fusion of the two companies as a “very convincing offer” for the British company’s shareholders.
Founded in the early 2000s by five Danish entrepreneurs, Just Eats has had a rough time in recent months, rocked by the departure of its director-general and by investors’ questions about its strategy.
The main aim of the two meal-delivery companies is to be stronger so as to meet the challenge stemming from the ambitions of Uber Eats and Deliveroo.
Deliveroo announced in mid-May that Amazon had bought into it in response to a fund-raising drive, sparking speculations on the intentions of the U.S. online trade giant. However, that operation could be the subject of an investigation by the British competition watchdog.
The Brussels Times
