FILE PHOTO: An employee loads online grocery orders to a vehicle at the storage area of Czech online grocer Rohlik Group in Prague, Czech Republic February 1, 2023. REUTERS/David W Cerny/File Photo
PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech online grocer Rohlik Group's valuation has nearly doubled from three years ago to 1.85 billion euros ($1.95 billion), calculations from bond issue documents show.
The privately-held company, which has expanded in central Europe in recent years, has rarely commented on its valuation although in March it said it was valued at 1.3 billion euros in mid-2022. A 2021 funding round made it a so-called start-up unicorn with a valuation of over $1 billion.
The company promotes its use of local suppliers and local products and has lately concentrated its expansion into Germany where it has struck a partnership with Amazon.
Calculations on Rohlik's current value match an evaluation cited by Rohlik founder and Chief Executive Tomas Cupr in a podcast released this week.
The valuation is important as a Cupr-controlled company is offering 3 billion Czech crowns ($125.02 million) of bonds with a 6.00% coupon that mature in December 2029, and holders have a right to an extraordinary yield of up to 27.5% if the value of Rohlik rises to above 3.5 billion euros.
A valuation of between 2.5 billion and 3.5 billion euros at maturity provides a 25% extraordinary yield, while 20% is applied if the value of Rohlik is less than 2.5 billion euros.
In a previous 3.55 billion crown bond issue maturing in 2026, Cupr has 114,400 shares of Rohlik, or 19.3% of issued shares, pledged to secure the bonds. Those shares can be used to calculate Rohlik's valuation using the bond's most recent loan-to-value ratio of 39.35% done by an outside party and published last month.
Speaking to a J&T Banka podcast this week, Cupr said the company's latest independent valuation, conducted twice a year, estimated Rohlik's value at a similar figure.
"(The evaluation) is a little more than what was in the last investment round in the summer, which was somewhere over 1.6 billion euros. But it is before news of Amazon so I think that is something that will catapult us," he told J&T Banka's podcast.
"Of course at some moment, the evaluation is only some imaginary figure. What is important is the ability of the firm to make money."
Cupr said profits from the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania would continue to fuel Rohlik's growth in Germany.
In a May interview, Cupr told Reuters that Rohlik was on track to break even within 12 months.
Rohlik has raised money from leading venture capitalists including Index Ventures, Partech and Belgian investor Sofina.
J&T Banka, PPF Banka and Erste Group Bank's Ceska Sporitelna are managing the new bond issue.
($1 = 23.9960 Czech crowns)
($1 = 0.9471 euros)
(Reporting by Jason Hovet, Jan Lopatka and Michael Kahn; Editing by Susan Fenton)
