Kinnevik’s Zalando announces IPO

The Berlin-based company has confirmed its intention to float before the end of the year, ending speculation that began almost a year ago.

Between 10-11% of its equity is expected to be offered consisting solely of newly issued shares.

Existing Zalando backers will continue to hold their current stakes in the online retailer including Sweden-based Kinnevik, which will remain as the largest shareholder, alongside Global Founders (formerly European Founders Fund) with 17%, Anders Hoch Povlsen with 10% and DST Europe and Holtzbrinck Ventures with 8% each.

The start-up incubator Rocket Internet will not play a part in the IPO, having transferred its entire shareholding to its main backer Kinnevik in August last year. Initial investor Tengelmann Ventures, which took an 8% stake in 2010, divested its stake two years later.

The fashion retailer is expected to post sales of more than €2bn this year, having achieved turnover of more than €1bn in the first half of this year. The DACH region provided more than half of this revenue, chalking up almost €600m in sales in H1 2014.

Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse have been appointed as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the impending IPO. Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan are acting as joint bookrunners, while Jefferies and Stifel Nicolaus Europe are co-lead managers.

The Berlin-based company sells men's, women's and children's fashion items across Europe via its e-commerce site. The major draw to its 13.7 million active customers is its free returns policy, as well as a new mobile app.

The listing of Zalando could pave the way for a host of IPOs from e-commerce companies in Germany. So far this year, only two German companies have listed: both Triton's Stabilus and Deutsche Private Equity's SLM Solutions floated on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange this year.

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• Topics
• DACH
• Exits
• Consumer
• Germany
• IPO