Popular e-commerce platform, Jumia, could have a new owner soon, as its parent company, Rocket Internet is considering floating it through an Initial Public Offer (IPO). This is coming few months after Jumia’s major competitor Konga was acquired by Zinox after a month-long negotiation with major investors, Naspers and AB Kinnevik. Also recently online classified ads platform OLX also announced it is shutting down operations in Nigeria.
Why the sale ?
The IPO is in line with Rocket’s mode of exit from mature portfolio companies. HelloFresh, in November last year was IPO’d on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in a deal valued at €1.7 billion. Deliveryhero, another company was listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange at a valuation of €994 million.
Jumia is yet to attain profitability since its creation. The company made a loss of €81 million according to a 9M 2017 investor presentation by Rocket.
Details of the IPO
Berenberg, German investment bank which has a track record of working with Rocket on capital market transactions is reportedly handling the offer.
A possible listing could take place in late 2018 or in 2019, either on the Frankfurt or the London Stock Exchange. Rocket internet’s share price has risen since taking a plunge last year. It closed at €26 in yesterday’s trading session on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Rocket Internet Group was founded in Berlin in 2007 by three brothers: Marc, Oliver and Alexander Samwer. The company had aggregate revenues of 1.8 billion as at September 2017, and employees over 300 staff. This excludes employees at its portfolio companies which number over 30,000.
Jumia, formerly known as Africa Internet Group (AIG), was founded in Nigeria in 2012. The company has expanded its operations to over 20 companies.
