Family Business Roundup: Berjaya Group, NewsCorp, Zalando

Malaysia’s Berjaya Group takes next step in the listing of its 7-Eleven franchise, NewsCorp invests in online sports videos and Bestseller next-gen invests in online fashion brand.

Berjaya Group
Family-controlled Berjaya Group has appointed UBS and Maybank Investment Bank, among others, to manage an initial public offering of its 7-Eleven convenience-store franchise.

The size or timing of the offering has not been decided, but could raise up to $200 million for the group, which was founded by Vincent Tan. His son, Robin, is chairman.

7-Eleven Malaysia has more than 1,300 stores and serves around 500,000 customers a day.

Last year, Malaysia was ranked first in southeast Asia for IPOs, with companies raising around $12 billion. This year, however, only around $390 million has been raised – largely attributed to uncertainty regarding next year’s national elections.

News Corp
NewsCorp has secured rights to show online video clips for English Premier League soccer in Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia, as the company focuses on mobile apps and its websites instead of newspapers.

The exclusive three-year deal coincides with the beginning of the 2013 season, and is the new company’s first investment outside the US, UK and Australia, since it separated from 21st Century Fox in June.

NewsCorp has previously revealed it uses its digital sports portfolio to drive British subscribers to its titles there, including The Sun and The Times of London.

NewsCorp owns The Wall Street Journal, The Times of London, HarperCollins, Australian pay-TV assets and education division Amplify.

Bestseller and Zalando
Anders Holch Povlsen, the second-gen owner of Danish fashion group Bestseller, has acquired a 10% stake in Zalando, an online fashion retailer.

Bestseller was founded in 1975, and saw revenues of €2.4 billion in fiscal 2011/2012.

Germany-based Zalando, on the other hand, was only founded in 2008, but reported revenues of €1.15 billion in 2012 – it sells all of Bestsellers 11 brands on its site.

According to Zalando co-founder David Schneider the two companies have been working together for several years.

Povlsen will hold the stake directly and not via Bestseller.