MOSCOW, September 04. /ITAR-TASS/. Swedish investment holding Kinnevik has agreed with Rocket Internet to merge five Internet retailers, including Russia’s Lamoda, into a new global fashion e-commerce group, Global Fashion Group (GFG), the holding said in a statement Thursday.

The other retailers are Brazil’s Dafiti, India’s Jabong, the United Arab Emirates’ Namshi and Malaysia’s Zalora. All the five companies are in the portfolio of Berlin-based Rocket Internet.

GFG will operate across the five continents with a focus on growth markets, covering 23 countries with a 330 billion euro fashion market and population of over 2.5 billion people who continue to move rapidly online and purchase via e-commerce.

“GFG will market a wide assortment of leading international apparel and accessories brands, a tailored selection of highly engaging internally developed brands and local assortments developed for specific ethnic markets notably in India, Indonesia and the Middle East,” the statement read.

All the direct and indirect shareholders in the five existing e-commerce companies will contribute their shares to a newly formed Luxembourg-based entity. The three largest shareholders in GFG will be Kinnevik, Rocket Internet and Access Industries, with 25.1%, 23.5% and 7.4% ownership interests, respectively.

The GFG companies will continue to be led by their respective founders and management teams with a few select additions to the leadership team intended to foster group synergies and the pursuit of global initiatives.

The agreed transaction is subject to binding rulings by fiscal authorities and antitrust approval. Kinnevik expects the deal to be closed in late 2014.