Germany’s Zalando set to join online flotation rush

By Emma Thomasson and Arno Schuetze BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Europe’s biggest online fashion player Zalando plans to raise more than 500 million euros ($657 million) to fund expansion by listing a stake, joining a flurry of e-commerce flotations set to be crowned by Chinese giant Alibaba. The Berlin-based firm said on Wednesday it wanted to list a 10-11 percent stake on the Frankfurt stock exchange this year, which would value the company at at least 4.5 billion euros in what would be one of Germany’s biggest technology flotations for years and Europe’s top tech listing since France’s Worldline in June. Zalando is hoping it will be valued at a premium to its closest competitor Britain’s ASOS, advisors say. It boasts that it is ahead of its rival in Europe in terms of total revenue, website traffic, brand awareness and active customers.