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FRANKFURT, Germany — Zalando SE, Europe's largest online shoe and fashion retailer, may announce its initial public offering as early as this week following a profitable quarter, said people with knowledge of the matter.
Zalando’s supervisory board is meeting this week and the intention to float in Frankfurt could be issued shortly thereafter, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details aren’t public yet. No final decision has been made and the schedule could be pushed back to early September, they said.
The company, whose owners include Sweden’s Investment AB Kinnevik, could be valued at 4 billion euros ($5.3 billion) to 5 billion euros in the sale, some of the people said. Zalando, created from the Berlin-based Samwer brothers’ Rocket Internet incubator, plans to sell new shares to list between 10 percent and 15 percent, while its owners will retain their stakes, the people said.
Rocket is also planning to announce its own share sale soon, most likely in early September, people familiar told Bloomberg News, signaling a revival in German IPOs. Retailers including Lenta Ltd. and Card Factory Plc have raised about $7.5 billion in IPOs in Europe this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, as investors bet on the sector profiting from an economic recovery.
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Profitable Quarter
Zalando said on July 18 it had broken even so far this year and was profitable in the second quarter, with revenue in the range of 520 million euros to 560 million euros. It didn’t specify profit and will report detailed figures at the end of August. The company sells items ranging from Adidas AG German soccer jerseys to Birkenstock sandals.
A spokesman for Zalando declined to comment on the timing of the initial public offering.
Rocket replicates existing e-commerce business concepts, mainly from Silicon Valley, in markets outside the U.S. and China — from Brazil to Nigeria to Myanmar. Zalando was one of those businesses. In meetings with investors ahead of its own IPO, Rocket has been benchmarking its business model against that of Jack Ma's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., the Chinese e-commerce giant.
By Ruth David, Aaron Kirchfeld, Aaron Ricadela; Editors: Jeffrey McCracken, Aaron Kirchfeld, Celeste Perri
