Sega is taking its first few steps in its attempt to dominate the mobile gaming market.
The video game developer recently announced it planned to acquire Finland-based Rovio Entertainment to further its growth in the global mobile gaming market.
Sega is known for its various gaming franchises, such as its Sonic franchise, Total War franchise, and Like a Dragon franchise.
Sega Sammy - Rovio Entertainment Acquisition Details
Sega Sammy, Sega's subsidiary, mentioned that it intends to buy Rovio Entertainment for $776 million, with it valuing each of the latter company's shares at around $10.15 each in cash - a 19% premium over its closing price on Friday, per Reuters.
A Bloomberg report stated that Sega Sammy offered a $1.62 per option offer to Rovio's option holders; both offers were unanimously recommended to shareholders by Rovio's board, which received 49% support from them, including the company's founding Hed family.
As previously mentioned, Sega Sammy plans to acquire the Finland-based company to better grow its potential in the global mobile gaming market. The company intends to use Rovio's unique know-how in live service mobile game operations to bring its own current and new titles to the global mobile gaming market, per Polygon.
In return, Sega will help Rovio expand outside of mobile gaming and launch its games on other platforms. Rovio's investors became increasingly worried when it became too dependent on Angry Birds to carry itself to success.
Interestingly, both companies saw success in their respective multimedia ventures, specifically in the movie industry with the "Angry Birds" movie and "Sonic the Hedgehog" movie series, respectively.
Sega Sammy CEO Haruki Satomi said that they feel blessed to announce such a transaction with Rovio. He added that he is confident that the acquisition deal would create significant synergies through the combination of both companies' brands, characters, fanbase, as well as corporate culture and functionality, per a CNBC report.
"In the rapidly growing global gaming market, the mobile gaming market has especially high potential, and it has been Sega's long-term goal to accelerate its expansion in this field," Satomi said in a statement.
The Acquisition Deal's Effect On Rovio
As a result of the deal's signing, Rovio's shares rose as much as 19% to trade at approximately $10.17 as of 10:06 AM in Helsinki on Apr. 17.
The acquisition deal came as a surprise to the many companies who wish to acquire Rovio for themselves, as the company engaged in numerous talks with multiple parties since an $810 million offer from Israel-based Playtika Holding Corp. had become public in January. Rovio mentioned in a Mar. 22 statement that while it ended talks with Playtika, it didn't do the same with other parties, which it left unidentified at the time.
The reason for Rovio's refusal to be bought by Playtika could be due to the latter company's tendency to close Finnish game studios after it buys them, a history which the Hed family presumably didn't like.
