Just Eat sells two Latin American businesses to its Brazil joint venture

Takeaway food delivery marketplace Just Eat sold two of its Latin American business to its iFood joint venture in Brazil for about $11m.

The FTSE 250 listed company sold Hellofood Brazil to IF-JE, the Brazil joint venture with Movile.

Just Eat also sold a 49% stake in its Mexico business, formed of SinDelaSimintal which Just Eat bought in February 2015 and Hellofood Mexico bought in February 2016, to IF-JE. The company will retain a 51% stake in the Mexico business, or a 65.7% on a look-through basis.

Total net considerations received for the transactions was about $11m. Just Eat owns 30% of IF-JE, which will own 49% of the Mexico business.

The company said the transfer of Hellofood Brazil strengthens the position of IF-JE in the Brazilian online takeaway delivery market.

In Mexico, creating a joint venture under local IF-JE management, the company said leverages Latin American know-how and scale to which could establish it as a market-leader across two markets in the region.

Chief executive David Buttress said: "The iFood joint venture in Brazil has been a huge success for Just Eat and has enjoyed impressive growth since it launched in 2014, thanks to its intimate understanding of local markets and strong track record of executing against its strategy.

"These transactions with iFood will create additional volume and scale that will generate significant benefits in these markets. They will provide the perfect platform for iFood to expand further in the largest and most exciting markets in Latin America, creating real value for Just Eat and its shareholders."

Shares in Just Eat were up 1.02% to 475.4p at 0917 BST.