Brussels – The European Commission green-lights the purchase of Just Eat Takeaway.com (JET) by Naspers through its subsidiary Prosus. The EU executive clears the deal, which effectively creates a merger between the two app-based home food delivery companies, on the condition, however, that Naspers reduces its stake in Delivery Hero, another online food delivery service company present and operating in Austria, Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, and Spain.
The divestment of shares in Delivery Hero is one of the conditions set by Brussels to proceed with the acquisition of JET, the only way to avoid a reduction in competition and a distortion of the market. The twelve-star antitrust authority has made it known that the nature of the information is confidential; therefore, it cannot be revealed, for now, how much Naspers will have to divest of Delivery Hero. Brussels merely says that control will have to fall “below a very low percentage” within twelve months. Furthermore, Naspers “will not exercise the voting rights associated with its remaining limited shareholding in Delivery Hero.” The conditions will have to be scrupulously followed, as Naspers’ approval of the purchase of Just Eat Takeaway is conditional on its full compliance with its commitments.
The aim is to prevent the creation of a new cartel in the online food delivery sector, following the one set up by Delivery Hero and Glovo and for which the European Commission on 2 June this year imposed a total fine of €329 million on the two companies after a one-year-long audit.
“Today’s binding commitments protect both competition and consumer choice when ordering food at home,” argues Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice President for a Clean, Fair and Competitive Transition. “This decision also sends a clear warning to an industry that has recently faced antitrust issues: we will not tolerate any anti-competitive behaviour that harms consumers.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
