Rocket half-heartedly recognises SoftBank gravity

home24 SE

20/09/2018 10:23

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions
expressed are his own.)
    By Liam Proud
    LONDON, Sept 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Despite recent
successes, the $5 bln German tech investor still languishes
below its listing price. Rocket Internet also faces SoftBank’s
$100 bln Vision Fund pushing up M&A values. Hence spending dry
powder on a share buyback makes sense – though investors may
have wanted more.
        
    Full view will be published shortly.
    On Twitter https://twitter.com/liamwardproud
    
    CONTEXT NEWS
    - German technology investor Rocket Internet said on Sept.
20 it would buy back up to 150 million euros of shares, or 3.6
percent of its outstanding stock.
    - Rocket Internet’s share price has risen by more than 43
percent since the beginning of 2017. In that period, it has
listed a series of startups including Delivery Hero and
HelloFresh last year, and Home24 in June 2018. 
    - Its shares were up 3.5 percent to 27.78 euros at 0725 GMT
on Sept. 20, still 35 percent below the initial public offering
price in October 2014.
    - For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can
click on  PROUD/ 
    - SIGN UP FOR BREAKINGVIEWS EMAIL ALERTS http://bit.ly/BVsubscribe

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Rocket Internet to buy back up to 3.6 pct of its shares   
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1W60W4
Earnings report    https://www.rocket-internet.com/sites/default/files/investors/RISE
 Konzernabschluss H1.18_EN.pdf
Presentation    https://www.rocket-internet.com/sites/default/files/investors/2018_H1
 Rocket Internet and Selected Companies Results.pdf
BREAKINGVIEWS-Rocket Internet rejig exposes valuation mismatch  
  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1M91KJ
BREAKINGVIEWS-Market to Rocket Internet: initiate breakup mode  
  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1LW3B0
BREAKINGVIEWS-Rocket buyback hints at change of trajectory   
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1L02Y9
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Editing by George Hay and Bob Cervi)
 ((liam.proud@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
liam.ward-proud.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))