Chinese Group Buys Israel-Based Online-Games Firm
July 31 2016 - 9:50PM
Dow Jones News
SHANGHAI—A Chinese consortium led by Shanghai Giant Network
Technology Co. and joined by a private-equity arm set up by
Alibaba's Jack Ma, agreed to purchase an Israeli games business for
$4.4 billion in cash.
The consortium of 11 investors will purchase a 100% stake in
Caesars Interactive Entertainment's subsidiaries, including
mobile-games unit Playtika.
Caesars Interactive Entertainment has developed casino-style
games including "Caesars Casino," "Bingo Blitz" and "World Series
of Poker."
The deal doesn't include "World Series of Poker" and CIE's
real-money online gaming business. CIE is a subsidiary under a
joint venture between Caesars Acquisition Co. and Caesars
Entertainment Corp.
Founded in 2010, Playtika is headquartered in Herzliya, Israel.
Playtika specializes in free-to-play, casino-style games such as
"Slotomania" and "Bingo Blitz" that use virtual currency and are
designed for mobile and social platforms. Caesars Entertainment
spent around $100 million to buy Playtika in 2011.
Robert Antokol, co-founder and chief executive of Playtika, said
in a statement Sunday that the Chinese investors will help give his
company access to "large and rapidly growing emerging markets." The
virtual currency used on the Playtika platforms will remain
unexchangeable into real currency.
Playtika's revenue hit $725 million in 2015 and $456 million in
the first half of 2016. Playtika's "Slotomania" is currently the
seventh highest-grossing game on Apple Inc.'s U.S. App Store. Like
most mobile games today, it's free to play and generates revenue
from in-game transactions.
The Chinese consortium's investors include Giant Investment
Ltd., Yunfeng Capital, a private-equity firm co-founded by Alibaba
Group Holding's Mr. Ma, China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co., China
Minsheng Trust Co., CDH China HF Holdings Company and Hony Capital
Fund.
The deal follows several other large acquisitions in mobile
gaming.
Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings and its partners last
month agreed to buy "Clash of Clans" creator Supercell Oy for $8.4
billion.
French entertainment giant Vivendi SA in May amassed 61.7% of
Gameloft's capital and controls at least 55.6% of the votes after
it launched a tender offer for its shares.
In February, Activision Blizzard Inc. bought King Digital
Entertainment PLC, the company behind the hit puzzle game "Candy
Crush Saga" for $5.9 billion.
Dealflow in the videogame industry has already in just the first
seven months of 2016 reached an annual record $25 billion,
according to mergers-and-acquisitions advisory firm Digi-Capital
Inc. Casino-themed mobile games are expected to reach $1.43 billion
in global revenue this year, or 3.9% of the $36.42 billion for all
mobile games across genres, estimates industry tracker SuperData
Research Inc.
Yifan Xie
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 31, 2016 21:35 ET (01:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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