Just Eat Takeaway mulls sale of Grubhub just months after its acquisition

Just Eat Takeaway, a leading global online food delivery marketplace headquartered in Amsterdam, revealed on Wednesday, April 20, that it is mulling on the sale of its newly-acquired Grubhub, an American online and mobile prepared food ordering and delivery platform.

In its recent trading update, Just Eat Takeaway said it started to think about selling Grubhub after facing pressure from investors that want to seek out strategic deals. Thus, on Wednesday, the company said, “the board confirms its alignment with shareholders in wanting to both create and realize value from the company’s highly attractive portfolio of assets.”

Just Eat Takeaway added, “As such, management is currently, together with its advisers, actively exploring the introduction of a strategic partner into and/or the partial or full sale of Grubhub.”

But then again, as per CNBC, the company could not guarantee that such sale would be agreed on or when it might happen. It also said that it would just release an announcement when they have decided at the approriate time.

It was revealed that the food delivery brand encountered growing calls from its major shareholders to unload its Grubhub unit. This was surprising because Just Eat Takeaway just completed its acquisition of Grubhub barely a year ago, in June 2021, for $7.3 billion.

Cat Rock, which owns a 6.5% share in the company, called on Just Eat Takeaway to sell its American arm and simply focus on its business in Europe. This first call was expressed just four months after the announcement of the acquisition and winning against Deliver Hero and Uber in the takeover bid.

Shares of the company increased by seven percent after the news of its interest to sell Grubhub were published. It was noted that the British delivery platform lost over two-thirds of its market value in the last 12 months.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Just Eat Takeaway’s chief executive officer, Jitse Groen confirmed that it is currently in talks with potential buyers for Grubhub. The company chief said that rather than a partnership, it is now looking at selling, but it is not yet certain that the talks would lead to a sale.

"We are in talks with people around this (a sale), but I need to caution that doesn't automatically lead to a transaction," he told the media this week.