FILE PHOTO: Signage for Just Eat is seen next to Uber Eats and Deliveroo advertisements on the window of a restaurant in London, Britain, August 5, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s competition regulator on Thursday cleared online food delivery company Takeaway.com’s takeover of UK rival Just Eat, saying the 6.2 billion pound ($7.7 billion) deal would not reduce competition.
Amsterdam-based Takeaway.com beat tech investment giant Prosus in a battle to buy Just Eat in January.
Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)investigated the deal to see if Takeaway.com would have been likely to re-enter the UK market without the acquisition, thereby creating competition to Just Eat and the likes of Uber Eats and Deliveroo.
It concluded there was not a material likelihood of that happening if it blocked the deal, and it therefore gave it the green light.
Reporting by Paul Sandle, editing by James Davey