Rocket Internet floats HelloFresh in €1.7bn IPO

The offer was covered throughout the range and was oversubscribed multiple times at the issue price.

HelloFresh will raise €318m in expansion capital to fund continued growth and further acquisitions.

Shares were trading slightly above the initial price range on 2 November, the company's first day of trading. It opened at €10.60 and was still at €10.45 by midday.

The company announced its intention to float on 10 October 2017 and set its price range at €9-11.50 later in the month. It had initially explored an IPO in November 2015, but postponed the plans due to difficult market conditions. 

The primary offering consisted of 27 million shares with an additional 4.05 million available for overallotment. The company predicted a 19% free float post-IPO, based on 132.4 million shares outstanding and assuming full exercise of the greenshoe.

Prior to the IPO, Rocket Internet held a 53% stake in HelloFresh.

Previous funding
HelloFresh has raised more than €320m over seven funding rounds, according to unquote" data.

The most recent was a €75m funding round in 2015, led by Bailie Gifford with participation from Rocket Internet, Insight Venture Partners, Phenom Ventures and Vorwerk Direct Selling Ventures. 

Company
Founded in November 2011 and headquartered in Berlin, HelloFresh delivers weekly meal kits including recipes and fresh ingredients to its customers. It operates in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, the US and Australia.

HelloFresh is not yet profitable, reporting EBITDA of -€49.1m from €435m in sales for the first half of 2017. However, the company says the adjusted EBITDA margin has significantly improved by 25% points to -7.4% over the last seven quarters and expects to break even within the next 15 months.

People
HelloFresh – Dominik Richter (CEO).

Advisers
Company – Berenberg (global coordinator); BNP Paribas (global coordinator); Deutsche Bank (global coordinator); JP Morgan (global coordinator); Morgan Stanley (global coordinator); Rabobank (co-lead manager).

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