Jumia: Parent company to withdraw investment from Nigeria's online retailer

The purported move by Rocket Internet is said to be in-line with the company's strategy of selling or listing established internet firms.

Rocket Internet, the parent company of Jumia, a popular only shopping platform in Nigeria, is reportedly considering withdrawing its investment from the retail store.

According to a Reuters report, which cited insider sources, the German start-up investor is exploring a stock market listing of Jumia.

Rocket Internet helped in setting up Jumia in 2012 but the online retail store, which has since spread across 14 African countries, is said to be a loss-making company.

The purported move by Rocket Internet is said to be in-line with the company's strategy of selling or listing established internet firms.

The investor is expected to shortly mandate banks for an initial public offering of Jumia, which describes itself as Africa's leading online shopping destination, the report said.

The sources said a German investment bank, Berenberg, which has a track record of working with Rocket on capital market transactions is in a good position to win a mandate.

A listing of shares, in a volume of under 200 million euros ($245.7 million), could take place in late 2018 or in 2019, either in Frankfurt or in London, one of the sources was quoted as saying.

Rocket Internet was said to have declined to comment on the matter.

The company's Chief Executive, Oliver Samwer, had earlier in 2018 told Reuters that Rocket needs to hold on to its mountain of cash so it can compete with rivals from the United States and China and pounce when investment opportunities arise.

In January, Jumia said that it had 1 billion visits on its pages across Africa in 2017.

It also said it has 50,000 merchants in its ecosystem, where 5 million products, hotels, restaurants, and other services are listed.

According to a presentation from Rocket Internet, Jumia saw its adjusted loss before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization widen to 80.7 million euros in the first nine months of 2017. Revenues edged up to 57.3 million euros.