• Rocket Internet SE (“Rocket Internet”) has committed to invest up to EUR 100 million of the EUR 300 million capital increase (the “Financing”) of Global Fashion Group S.A. (“GFG”) // • Rocket Internet expects to invest up to EUR 85 million including the conversion of an existing investment // • GFG with continued strong operating performance in Q1 2016 and a significant improvement of the Adjusted EBITDA margin by over 10 percentage points compared to Q1 2015
Berlin, Germany, April 27, 2016 – Today, GFG has secured a successful funding round of at least EUR 300 million, which has been underwritten by Rocket Internet and other existing shareholders. Founded in 2014, GFG is the leading online Fashion business in emerging markets. It combines 6 regional brands, Dafiti in Latin America, Lamoda in Russia and CIS, Namshi in the Middle East, The Iconic in Australia, Jabong in India and Zalora in South-East Asia.
As part of the transaction, Rocket Internet has agreed to underwrite up to EUR 100 million of the Financing. Rocket Internet expects to invest up to EUR 85 million including the conversion of an existing investment at the terms of the Financing. The transaction values GFG at EUR 1.0 billion post the transactions.
Oliver Samwer, CEO of Rocket Internet, commented: “We continue to be very excited about the prospects of GFG, which has successfully built out leading market positions in key emerging markets. We are looking forward to continuing to work with the GFG team as well as Kinnevik and the other GFG shareholders to support GFG.”
Romain Voog, CEO of GFG added: “We very much appreciate the continued support of our key existing investors in GFG. The financing will provide GFG with the necessary capital to continue to execute its strategy of building out its leading position in the online fashion sector in emerging markets. During the first quarter 2016 we have made significant progress on our path to profitability, reducing the loss from operations meaningfully in comparison to the first quarter 2015 resulting in an improvement of the Adjusted EBITDA margin by over 10 percentage points year-over-year. This is in line with GFG’s plan to deliver an accelerated path to profitability across its regional businesses while continuing to capture the significant market opportunity available.”
