Rocket Internet IPO sees share price plummet: Frosty welcome for German tech group as debut collapses
German tech group Rocket Internet plunged over 14 per cent within minutes of their stock market debut in Frankfurt yesterday as investors gave Europe’s largest internet float since the dot-com crash in 2000 an icy welcome.
The German internet firm debuted on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, joining fellow German tech startup Zalando which went public on Wednesday and is now trading nearly 13 per cent below its listing price.
Global e-commerce incubator Rocket had sold shares at the top of its price range and brought forward the debut by a week, citing exceptional investor demand.
The shares opened at the offer price of €42.50, giving the firm a value of €6.7bn (£5.26bn), but fell to €36.66 after a few minutes. By the close they had fallen 13 per cent to €37.
Rocket Internet has set up e-commerce sites and online marketplaces for everything from taxis to meal deliveries in more than 100 countries.
The group’s revenue, which it makes by charging consultancy fees to the companies it sets up, rose 43 per cent to €47m in the first half of 2014, while it made a net loss of €13.3m as costs rose.