The Iconic parent goes public

Heather McIlvaine

4th Jul 2019

The Iconic’s parent company Global Fashion Group (GFG) started trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on Tuesday, after raising €180 million ($290 million) through an initial public offering.

The e-commerce company had been hoping to raise €300 million, but ended up cutting the offering from €6-8 a share to €4.50 a share and extending the offer period to June 28.

The company considered cancelling the listing, according to sources cited by Reuters, but ultimately placed 40 million new shares primarily with existing investors.

Reuters reported that Swedish investor Kinnevik, which owns 36.8 per cent in GFG, and Germany’s Rocket Internet, with 20.4 per cent, bought shares worth €60 million euros and €50 million euros respectively.

A further four million of existing shares have been allocated to cover an over-allotment option for banks running the deal, which – if taken up – would increase the proceeds of the IPO to €198 million, according to GFG.

Reuters said the lack of interest from investors was due to broader capital market conditions, as well as scepticism about the company’s focus on emerging markets in Latin America and Asia.

“It is still very early days for fashion e-commerce in our markets,” Christoph Barchewitz and Patrick Schmidt, co-CEOs of GFG, said in a statement released on Tuesday.

GFG runs four fashion websites, including The Iconic in Australia and New Zealand, Zalora in Southeast Asia, Dafiti in Latin America and La Moda in Russia and former Soviet Union states, a market it refers to as CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States].

The company says it connects over 10,000 global, local and own fashion brands to a market of over 1 billion consumers.

GFG’s shares opened at €4.47 on Tuesday and closed 5.6 per cent down at €4.22.