Zalando SE the largest European online-only fashion and shoe retailer is planning to sell up to 11% of its stock in its initial public offering in 2014 in the first big IPO for the startup scene in Berlin.
The company sells products that range from Adidas soccer jerseys of Germany clubs to designer dresses for over $2,000. The IPO will take place sometime before the end of 2014 on the stock exchange in Frankfurt, said the retailer on Friday.
The offering could value the business at $5.3 billion or 4 billion euros.
Germany had not had a big IPO in the technology industry since the Deutsche Telekom listing in 2000 of its dial-up business for Internet. Zalando represents the most significant IPO for Germany’s e-commerce industry to date.
This IPO is very important for Investment AB Kinnevik, as it owns 36% in Zalando and the tech incubator Rocket Internet that watched over the early growth of the company, said an analyst from a respected investor firm in Stockholm.
This will be used in the form of a proxy for valuing other clones for e-commerce in the Rocket and Kinnevik’s portfolio, said the analyst.
Zalando’s IPO will consist of the new shares and its existing investors will not sell during the IPO. The Berlin-based company has operations in 15 other countries in Europe including Spain, Finland and Poland.
The other five biggest owners in Zalando include the Samwer brothers’ Global Founders at 16%, Anders Holch Povlsen who has 10%, Yuri Milner’s DST Europe that has 8% and 8% by Holtzbrinck Ventures.
Rocket Internet incubator from Samwer brothers, which is based in Berlin, replicates existing businesses concepts in e-commerce, mainly from the Silicon Valley area, in markets that are outside China and the U.S. including Nigeria and Brazil to Myanmar.
One of the businesses was Zalando.
