Zalando furthers online European hold

Zalando, the European online fashion and footwear retailer,

has announced that Investment AB Kinnevik has acquired a further 10 percent equity in the company thereby making it the largest shareholder.

Investment AB Kinnevik now holds a 26 percent direct stake in Zalando and further 9 percent indirectly through Rocket Internet. The investor acquired the additional 10 percent stake from Holtzbrinck Ventures, Tengelmann and Rocket Internet. The three early-stage investors sold a small portion of their stakes in Zalando but together still hold more than 56 percent of the company.

Zalando reported net-sales of 471 million euros in the first six months of 2012 and has said it is on track to double its 2011 revenue of 510 million euros this year.

Rubin Ritter, managing director of Zalando, said: “We are excited to see Kinnevik increasing its ownership in Zalando and we look forward to executing our plans with Kinnevik as a large and active shareholder. Zalando has had a very fast development since the start in 2008 and given the strong growth in the first half of the year, we are on track to double last year’s sales, making us the largest shoe and fashion e-commerce company in Europe."