Global Fashion Group (GFG), the e-commerce partnership that counts corporates Rocket Internet, Tengelmann and Access Industries as members, plans to go public in a €300m ($338m) initial public offering next month.
The group intends to float on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange’s Prime Standard market. In March this year, it was valued at approximately $1.13bn by Kinnevik, the investment firm that it its largest shareholder, with a 35% stake, according to Reuters.
Formed in 2011, GFG is the owner of fashion e-commerce brands Zalora, Dafiti, Lamoda and The Iconic, which serve consumers in East and Southeast Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Australasia respectively.
The company collectively generated more than €1.5bn in sales in 2018 from a base of more than 11 million active customers, Patrick Schmidt, co-chief executive of GFG, told the Financial Times.
“The reason why we are pursuing fundraising is that we have a great investment opportunity,” he added. “We are not seeking to create an opportunity for our existing shareholders to sell down.
“We are really looking to raise more capital to keep building the next [logistics] centre, create the next innovation on the technology side, pursue market opportunities and launch the next category.”
E-commerce holding company Rocket Internet is GFG’s second largest investor, holding a 21% stake. It took part in a $363m round for GFG in 2016 along with its Rocket Internet Capital Partners (RICP) unit and Kinnevik, bringing the group’s total funding to $565m.
The 2016 round valued GFG at $1.1bn and it followed $167m from Rocket Internet and Kinnevik that was supplied in 2015 at a $3.4bn valuation. Tengelmann Ventures, an investment vehicle for retailer Tengelmann, had joined Verlinvest to provide $34.6m shortly before.
GFG’s other shareholders include conglomerate Access Industries, pension manager Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and private equity firm Summit Partners. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Berenberg and HSBC are the underwriters for the offering.
