Just Eat owner to sell stake in iFood for £1.5bn

Just Eat Takeaway.com has announced the sale of its one-third stake in Brazilian food delivery company iFood for 1.8 billion euros (£1.5 billion), sending its shares climbing.

The takeaway giant will hand over its stake to Dutch investment company Prosus.

It is trying to improve profitability and pay off debts after recently reporting heavy half-year losses.

The agreement with Movile, an affiliate of Prosus, will see a 1.5 billion euro (£1.27 billion) cash injection and an additional instalment of up to 300 million euros (£255 million) depending on how well the online food delivery sector performs over the next year, the statement on Friday said.

Earlier in August, Just Eat Takeaway.com told shareholders that it took a three billion euro (£2.5 billion) impairment charge as it wrote down the value of its US subsidiary Grubhub, which it bought in 2021.

It also reported first-half losses of 134 million euros (£112 million) amid declining demand for takeaways following the lifting of lockdown restrictions.

But the disposal of iFood – which is already majority-owned by Prosus – will provide a vital cash boost for the takeaway company, which had assured investors that its “path to profitability is accelerating”.

Prosus made a bid for Just Eat back in 2021, offering £4.9 billion for the company in attempts to derail its merger with Takeaway.com.

At the time, a major shareholder criticised the bid, saying it “significantly undervalues the group” and urging Prosus to increase its offer by at least 20%.

The sale of iFood is expected to be completed during the final three months of the year, bosses said on Friday.

Just Eat is also continuing to consider either partially or fully selling Grubhub, it added.

Investors reacted positively to the deal and shares in Just Eat leapt by more than 30% in early trading.