So Rocket changed course. It has jettisoned its previous hands-on approach and no longer has board seats at any of its listed companies. It is selling down its main holdings. That has proved lucrative: the sale in May of its remaining stake in HelloFresh, which markets meal kits, earned it €350m. It is set to make a killing on Jumia, an African e-commerce platform which has had a volatile listing this year in New York.
All this has left Rocket with €3.1bn in cash, little debt—and a problem. It invests small sums early, and brings in more outside capital later. Running down its cash pile at the current pace could take decades. Oliver Samwer, Rocket’s boss, wants to spend more on its startups’ later funding rounds. But its current crop of firms—in “property tech” and business-to-business marketplaces—looks years away from scale.
Rocket could use the cash to take itself private. Being public has not created value for shareholders. It has enough ammunition: even if it paid a 25% premium to buy out other investors, it would have €1bn in cash left over, says Sarah Simon of Berenberg, a German bank. That would be some re-entry.
