Just Eat (JE.) is poised to fall into the hands of Takeaway.com after the Dutch delivery firm landed a knockout blow in its tussle with tech titan Prosus. Both Takeaway and Prosus increased their offers on Thursday afternoon with best and final bids – with Takeaway leading the battle after a £5.5bn offer from its rival failed to convince. Although shareholders have until Jan 10 to decide which of the two approaches to accept, Takeaway revealed it is close to obtaining sufficient backing to force an all-share merger through. Major Just Eat investors, including the likes of fund manager Aberdeen Standard and its biggest shareholder STM Fidecs Trust, have shunned Prosus in favour of Takeaway.
NMC Health (NMC) has hit back at claims of financial mismanagement made by hedge fund Muddy Waters as “false and misleading”. In a lengthy 3,500 word statement published after London markets closed, the Abu Dhabi-based healthcare provider moved to assuage investor fears over its finances. Shares in the FTSE 100 firm have dropped by more than 40% since Tuesday when Muddy Waters first raised “serious doubts” over NMC’s finances and claimed there was poor corporate governance at the company. Muddy Waters, which is headed up by former lawyer Carson Bloc, also revealed that it had taken a short position in NMC.
The new boss of Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) has begun overhauling its investment banking arm barely a month after she hinted at changes. Alison Rose, the first woman to run one of Britain’s biggest four banks, kicked off the widely anticipated rejig of Natwest Markets on Thursday by announcing that its chief executive Chris Marks and finance chief Richard Place will stand down. She also looked to squash speculation that Natwest Markets, which sunk to a £193m loss during the third quarter, could be sold down or closed by insisting the unit “plays a crucial role within RBS”.
A Portuguese lollipop tycoon has rekindled a fight with the board of vodka and gin maker Stock Spirits Group (STCK) by demanding it pays out more than £20m to shareholders. Luis Amaral, Portugal’s eighth-richest person, called on Stock Spirits to fork out the €25m (£21m) special dividend and accused the firm of hoarding cash. His company Western Gate Private Investments said shareholders are stuck between a management team which has been boosting performance, and a board “that is unwilling to return cash to patient investors”. The company said it would consider extra pay-outs if the cash cannot be better spent on takeovers. Western Gate is Stock Spirits’ second-largest shareholder with a 10% stake.
