Rivals Just Eat and Takeaway.com agreed in principle on Monday on the key terms of an £8.2 billion all-share deal.
The possible merger would create one of the largest online food delivery platforms with 360 million orders worth €7.3 billion in 2018.
Shares in Just Eat soared following the announcement, up 23% on Monday morning.
The online food order and delivery service, Just Eat, is headquartered in London, England.
Takeaway.com is a Dutch company also specialised in online food ordering and delivery.
“The Board of Just Eat and the Management Board of Takeaway.com are pleased to confirm that they have reached an agreement in principle on the key terms of a possible all-share combination of Just Eat and Takeaway.com to create Just Eat Takeaway.com N.V.,” Just Eat said in a company statement.
“The Possible Combination has compelling strategic logic and represents an attractive opportunity for both companies to build on the strong individual platforms of Just Eat and Takeaway.com with the potential to deliver substantial benefits to respective shareholders, customers, employees and other stakeholders,” the company continued.
If the merger goes ahead, then the current Chairman of Just Eat, Mike Evans, will assume the role of Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the combined business.
Additionally, Jitse Groen, currently CEO of Takeaway.com, will assume the role of CEO of the combined business.
The food delivery market has seen players such as Deliveroo and Uber Eats increase competition.
Indeed, news emerged earlier in May that Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) was set to invest in the food delivery app Deliveroo, just days after rival Uber’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:UBER).
At the start of the year, Time Out sold its stake in Flyt Limited to Just Eat.
Shares in Just Eat plc (LON:JE) were trading at +22.75% as of 08:11 BST Monday.
Shares in Takeaway.com NV (AMS:TKWY) were up 2.51% as of 09:11 CEST Monday.
