Tencent can win with a $9 bln bet on Supercell
10/06/2016 04:32
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are her own.)
By Robyn Mak
HONG KONG, June 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The Chinese web
giant is reportedly talking about buying the maker of Clash of
Clans at an unexpectedly high $9 bln valuation. Such a big deal
would be a first for Tencent. But buying the games-maker from
Japan's SoftBank could pay off - if Supercell can keep churning
out gems.
Full view will be published shortly.
CONTEXT NEWS
- Chinese social media and gaming group Tencent is in talks
with SoftBank Group to buy the Japanese company's majority stake
in Finnish mobile gaming firm Supercell, in a deal that would
value the games-maker at $9 billion, Bloomberg reported on June
9, citing people familiar with the discussions.
- SoftBank and partner GungHo acquired a majority interest
in Supercell for $1.5 billion in 2013. The company later bought
out GungHo. It then increased its stake to 73 percent last year,
in a deal which valued the game developer at $5.25 billion, the
Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the
transaction.
- In March, Supercell reported 2015 EBITDA of 848 million
euros, up 64 percent year-on-year, while revenue rose 36 percent
to 2.11 billion euros.
- Bloomberg: Tencent Weighing Supercell Deal at $9 Billion
Valuation http://bloom.bg/25OALVM
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- For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can
click on MAK/
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(On Twitter https://twitter.com/mak_robyn Editing by Quentin
Webb and Kathy Gao)
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Keywords: TENCENT/SUPERCELL BREAKINGVIEWS