Rocket Internet To Raise $5 Billion in the Next Five Years

Rocket Internet is set to raise as much as  4.5 billion euros ($5 billion) in the next five years to invest in new ventures and increase stakes in its existing startups after seeking shareholders approval .
According to reuters,The German Internet Company giant already has holdings in more than 100 start-ups.The amount of capital it can now raise is equivalent to more than two thirds of its current market capitalization of around 6.4 billion euros.
Its voracious appetite for cash to fund its far-flung business investments sent its shares down to their recent lows.
At its first annual general meeting on Tuesday, Rocket asked shareholders for permission for a possible capital increase in the next five years of more than 2.5 billion euros based on its current share price.

The company also sought approval to issue a convertible bond of up to 2 billion euros by June 2020.

The two proposals were backed by 89 percent of shareholders represented at the meeting.

Chief Financial Officer Peter Kimpel said any new capital would be used to invest in new companies, increase stakes in existing companies, build the technology platform and make acquisitions.

So far Rocket has ploughed the bulk of the money it has raised into investments in online takeaway food and grocery delivery start-ups that it says has created the largest takeout food delivery network outside China.

Chief Executive Oliver Samwer said Rocket Internet’s focus on emerging markets should provide encouraging prospects.

“Growth won’t slow, even after 20 years of the Internet. It’s just starting,” said Samwer, who has created and sold a string of Internet companies since the peak of the dot-com era in the late 1990s. “Growth is particularly strong in our markets because they are undeveloped.

source:Reuters