【商业故事】Tencent Seals Deal to Buy ‘Clash of Clans’ Developer Supercell

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收藏 2016-06-21

source from：WSJ
TECH
Tencent Seals Deal to Buy ‘Clash of Clans’ Developer Supercell for 8.6 Billion dollars
Chinese internet major’s deal to buy stake from Japan’s SoftBank values Supercell at 10.2 billion dollars

By JURO OSAWA and RICK CAREW
Updated June 21, 2016 6:49 a.m. ET
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HONG KONG—Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. and its partners will pay 8.6 billion dollars to buy an 84.3% stake in the maker of the popular “Clash of Clans” mobile game, the companies said, in a deal that values the Finnish game maker at 10.2 billion dollars.

Tencent and its partners will purchase the stake in Supercell Oy from Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank Group Corp. and the Finnish company’s current and former employees, a person familiar with the deal said.

News of the deal was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

Tencent’s purchase of the stake will occur in stages and it is still in discussions with co-investors to join in on the purchase, the company said in a statement Tuesday. China-focused fund manager Hillhouse Capital Group has been leading discussions to put together a consortium of investors to join with Tencent to buy part of the Supercell stake, people familiar with the matter said earlier.

Because the purchase is occurring in stages, Tencent has sufficient funds to pay for the initial purchase, the people said. The Chinese internet giant is also planning to raise additional debt secured by Supercell’s assets to help cover some of the acquisition costs, they said.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter and is subject to regulatory approvals, the companies said. SoftBank will no longer own any shares in Supercell following closing, they said.

Supercell was valued at roughly 5.25 billion dollars last year, according to a person familiar with the matter. SoftBank first bought a 51% stake in the Finnish gaming company for 1.53 billion dollars in 2013. Last year, SoftBank raised its stake to 73% but didn’t disclose the price of the transaction.

Tencent’s purchase of Supercell would cement it as a global leader in personal-computer and mobile games. In 2011, Tencent bought a controlling stake in Los Angeles-based Riot Games Inc., maker of the hit combat game “League of Legends,” for about 230 million dollars. “League of Legends” was the world’s highest grossing PC game by revenue last year, with 1.63 billion dollars in receipts, according to SuperData Research. At the same time, the world’s highest grossing mobile game by revenue was Supercell’s “Clash of Clans,” which grossed 1.35 billion dollars, SuperData said.

Helsinki-based Supercell was founded in 2010 by six veteran game developers and has launched only four titles: “Hay Day,” “Clash of Clans,” “Boom Beach” and “Clash Royale.” In the U.S. and Europe, all four titles were among the top 20 mobile games by revenue on Apple Inc.’s iOS system as of May, according to videogame research firm Newzoo.

Supercell designs its games to be played for years, as it regularly updates them so its 100 million daily active users never reach the finish line.

Tencent said Tuesday that Supercell’s current management would maintain operational independence.

SoftBank, which is looking to sell its Supercell stake to shore up its balance sheet, is saddled with more than 80 billion dollars in net debt, about one-third of which is tied to its struggling U.S. mobile-carrier unit, Sprint Corp. Last month, it said it would sell at least 7.9 billion dollars of its shares in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to pare its debt.