Europe's biggest online fashion player Zalando unveiled plans to list a stake in the business in hopes of raising more than €500m (£398m) to fund further expansion.
Zalando said on Wednesday it wanted to list a stake of 10-11% on the Frankfurt stock exchange this year, which could value the firm at about €6bn in one of Germany's biggest tech flotations for years.
The listing comes amid a flurry of e-commerce flotations, with Chinese giant Alibaba IPO-ALIB.N scheduled to list this month as well as the German venture capital firm Rocket Internet, which helped launch Zalando and many other startups.
Zalando – which unveiled a new advertising campaign, website, packaging and apps at its first-ever news conference last week – said the offering would consist solely of new shares from a capital increase. Its current shareholders will not be cashing out, it added.
A source familiar with the transaction said Zalando aimed to raise more than €500m with the offering. Zalando, in which Sweden's Kinnevik is the biggest investor with a 36% stake, posted a 29.5% gain in first-half sales to €1.047bn and it made its first-ever operating profit - €12m compared with an operating loss of €72m a year ago.
Zalando board member Rubin Ritter said the IPO was the next logical step for the company's development as it gave it flexibility to pursue its long-term growth ambitions.
Zalando, which began selling shoes in 2008, now ships 1,500 brands to customers in 15 countries, gaining widespread visibility with its "scream for joy" slogan and ads showing delighted customers tearing open Zalando packages.
The firm's most direct competitor is Britain's Asos, whose shares fell sharply this year after a profit warning and a warehouse fire. The shares rose on takeover speculation last week.
Zalando employs 7,000 people, with an average age of 29. More than 40% of its traffic comes from mobile devices. Its total number of active customers rose to 13.7 million from 11.6 million a year ago.
The retailer, which makes 60% of its sales in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, still forecasts huge potential to grow further given that the European fashion market is worth €420bn.
Source: Guardian Technology
