Rocket Internet Invests in Delivery Hero; Foodpanda Buys 7 Rivals in Asia

Advertisement
By Reuters | Updated: 6 February 2015 18:01 IST
Germany-based e-commerce company Rocket Internet said on Friday the value of its investment portfolio has risen 31 percent since its market flotation three months ago and set out plans to bring its existing and new online food takeaway delivery investments together.

Rocket's shares were up 7 percent at just over EUR 50 by 1055 GMT.

In a quarterly business update, the company said the last portfolio value (LPV) of its investments stood at EUR 3.4 billion ($3.9 billion), up from 2.6 billion at the time of its initial public share offer (IPO) in early November.

The company is only required to publish results on a half-yearly basis which it plans to do on May 5.

Advertisement

"Rocket has maintained its high pace since the H1 business update in November," the company said.

Separately, Kinnevik, the Swedish investment firm which is a frequent investment partner with Rocket, said the net asset value of all of its investments at the end of last year was up 10 percent on the previous quarter at 84.4 billion Swedish crowns (EUR 8.93 billion).

Shares in Kinnevik rose 5.3 percent to 268 crowns.

Advertisement

Kinnevik had reported strong sales but weakening margins during the third quarter for Global Fashion Group, the entity combining five regional fashion businesses including Dafiti, Jabong, Lamoda, Namshi and Zalora where Kinnevik and Rocket are co-investors. It blamed heavy investments and rising competition in some markets.

For 2015, Kinnevik said Global Fashion Group would focus on the integration of the five companies, "launch joint initiatives and deliver on synergies", but gave no fresh indication of timing for a possible share listing.

Advertisement

Kinnevik executives said on a conference call to discuss their latest quarterly investment results that there remained an enormous amount of work to do to prepare companies in the company's broader portolio for public listings.

New investments, more control
Meanhwile Rocket disclosed some further measures of the operating business performance of its investments and announced a range of new investments and operating plans.

Advertisement

Rocket, which had said it would use some of the proceeds of its stock market listing to take bigger stakes in some of its existing portfolio of dozens of companies, said it now has taken majority control of two out of eight of its top performers - takeaway delivery firm Foodpanda and online grocer HelloFresh.

Specifically, Rocket said it was forming a new global online restaurant takeaway service that brings together existing and new investments, including Foodpanda and a new 30 percent stake in former rival Delivery Hero as well as the acquisition of delivery firms in Italy and Spain.

Rocket said it had paid EUR 496 million to acquire a 30 percent stake in Delivery Hero, which is also based in Berlin. It also said that it had acquired La Nevera Roja of Spain and Pizzabo of Italy.

Separately, Foodpanda said it had agreed to acquire seven rivals across Asia, including the Indian business of Just-Eat Plc. Just-Eat remains active across Europe, Brazil and Canada.

The newly combined Global Online Takeaway Group of Rocket investments is now active in 64 countries, where it counts 140,000 restaurant delivery partners, which collectively have an annual run rate of 78 million orders based on December results.

Rocket also said it had invested an additional EUR 100 million in fresh funding for HelloFresh and paid another EUR 30 million to increase its stake in the business to 52 percent, making HelloFresh its largest single investment.

HelloFresh had annualised net revenues at year-end of around EUR 120 million and 172,000 active subscribers, it said.

© Thomson Reuters 2015

 

Catch the latest from the Consumer Electronics Show on Gadgets 360, at our CES 2026 hub.

Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Ustaad Bhagat Singh OTT Release: When, Where to Watch the Telugu Action Drama
  2. Amazon Great Republic Day Sale 2026: Know the Best Deals on Tablets
  3. Sirai OTT Release: When, Where to Watch the Tamil Courtroom Drama Online
  1. Toxic Gas May Have Sparked Life on Earth Through Icy ‘Cobweb’ Crystals
  2. Is Space Sticky? New Study Challenges Standard Dark Energy Theory
  3. Sirai OTT Release: When, Where to Watch the Tamil Courtroom Drama Online
  4. Wheel of Fortune India OTT Release: When, Where to Watch Akshay Kumar-Hosted Global Game Show
  5. NASA Confirms Expedition 74 Will Continue ISS Work After Crew-11 Exit
  6. European Space Agency Hit by Cyberattacks, Hundreds of Gigabytes of Data Stolen by Hackers
  7. Ustaad Bhagat Singh OTT Release: When, Where to Watch Harish Shankar's Telugu Action Drama Film
  8. Bha Bha Ba is Now Streaming: All You Need to Know About This Malayalam Comedy Thriller Film
  9. World’s Biggest Alien Search Enters Final Stage With 100 Mystery Signals
  10. NASA Pulls Out Artemis II Rocket to Launch Pad Ahead of Historic Moon Mission
Gadgets 360 is available in
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2026. All rights reserved.