Just Eat and Dutch group, Takeaway.com have confirmed an agreement has been reached in principle on the key terms of a possible £8.2bn merger to create Just Eat Takeaway.com N.V.
This would create one of the largest online food delivery companies in the world, with scale, strategic vision, industry leading capabilities, leading positions in attractive markets and a diversified geographic presence.
Key strategic reasons given for the merger:
> Creating one of the world's largest online food delivery platforms with 360 million orders worth €7.3bn in 2018.
> A strong founder led management team with 40 years of combined experience in the sector;
> Strong leadership positions in many of the world's largest food delivery markets, including the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada;
> A platform built around two of the world's largest profit pools in food delivery, the UK and the Netherlands;
> Ability to deploy capital and resources to strengthen its competitive positions as the company determines appropriate; and
> Operating leverage potential: greater ability to leverage investments, in particular in technology, marketing and restaurant delivery services across the combined business.
On completion of the merger, Mike Evans, currently the Chairman of Just Eat, will assume the role of Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the combined group. Adriaan Nühn, currently Chairman of the Takeaway.com Supervisory Board, will assume the role of Vice-Chairman of the Supervisory Board.
Also, Jitse Groen, currently CEO of Takeaway.com, will assume the role of CEO of the merged group. Paul Harrison, currently CFO of Just Eat will assume the role of CFO of the combined firm. Brent Wissink, currently CFO of Takeaway.com, and Jörg Gerbig, currently COO of Takeaway.com, will assume the role of Co-COOs.
Takeaway.com intends that the merged group will be incorporated, headquartered and domiciled in Amsterdam, the Netherlands with a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange and will maintain a significant part of its operations in the UK.
Takeaway.com is the leading online food delivery marketplace in Continental Europe and Israel. With nearly 44,000 connected restaurants, it offers consumers a wide variety of food choice.
Takeaway.com mainly collaborates with delivery restaurants. In addition, it also provides restaurant delivery services in 64 cities in ten countries for restaurants that do not deliver themselves.
Founded in 2000, Takeaway.com has rapidly grown to become the leading online food delivery marketplace of Continental Europe with operations in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Belgium, Austria, Israel, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Bulgaria and Romania. In the twelve months ended December 2018, it processed nearly 94 million orders from 14.1 million unique consumers.
With over 2,600 employees, Takeaway.com processed orders worth €1.8bn and generated gross revenue of €240m in the twelve months ended December 2018.