Rocket Internet wins green light for €4.5bn fundraising
Rocket Internet, the German ecommerce incubator, won permission from shareholders to raise up to €4.5bn in debt and equity to fuel future acquisitions at its annual meeting on Tuesday.
The Berlin-based lossmaking company received approval for an option to issue a convertible bond of up to €2bn, and to increase its capital by 50 per cent. Both options must be exercised by 2020.
Rocket, which has stakes in over 100 start-ups, wants the option of raising further cash “to be prepared for very flexible and vibrant markets”, it said.
Oliver Samwer, chief executive, told investors that growth would be strong in Rocket’s target markets, which were “undeveloped”.
The Frankfurt-listed company has invested heavily in food delivery portals since its initial public offering last year, when it raised €1.4bn. It raised a further €588m by selling new shares in February.
The controlling shareholder in the group is Global Founders Fund, the investment vehicle of the brothers who founded the business, Marc, Oliver and Alexander Samwer, which has a 41 per cent stake. Other institutional shareholders hold the remaining shares.
Rocket has few small investors, but the meeting was the first opportunity for many of them to raise questions about its business model.
Malte Diesselhorst, a notary who represents small investors in Rocket, asked the board whether its model was dependent on its market valuation and ability to divest itself of businesses to other buyers, rather than its ability to generate profits.
“How do you estimate the effect of a crisis, like the one we saw in 2007 and 2008 on this business model, and the accompanying necessity of finding capital? How dependent is your business model on the development of the market?” he said.
Rocket’s management told investors that the company’s goal is to generate profits from its network over the long term.
Shares in Rocket closed up 0.2 per cent to €38.74.