By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Prosus has offered to slash its Delivery Hero stake to below 10% and give up its board seat to address EU concerns over its 4.1 billion euro ($4.78 billion) Just Eat Takeaway deal, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday.
Amsterdam-headquartered Prosus has proposed selling down its Delivery Hero stake in incremental stages over a period of time, one of the people said.
The company, which is majority owned by South Africa’s Naspers, earlier said it had offered remedies to the European Commission but did not provide details.
The company’s assurances to the Commission that it neither controls nor influences the German meal delivery company Delivery Hero despite its 27.4% stake failed to convince the EU competition enforcer, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Delivery Hero and Just Eat Takeaway, Europe’s biggest meal delivery firm, compete with each other in Austria, Bulgaria, Italy, Poland and Spain.
Delivery Hero and its Spanish unit Glovo were fined 329 million euros by the EU antitrust watchdog last month for taking part in a cartel which included an agreement to divide up markets among themselves and not to poach each other’s employees.
“We have submitted remedies that directly and comprehensively address the concerns expressed in their preliminary assessment, with a view to obtaining a Phase 1 approval,” Prosus said in a statement.
The company is banking on its AI capabilities to boost Just Eat Takeaway, which posted a net loss of 1.65 billion euros last year.
The EU competition watchdog confirmed the remedy offer and extended its deadline decision to August 11. It may seek feedback from rivals and customers before deciding whether to accept the offer or it may decide to reject it and open a four-month-long investigation if it has serious concerns.
($1 = 0.8585 euros)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
