Mail.ru Group announced the acquisition for $ 30 million of company Pixonic, developer of the popular U.S. mobile game War Robots. The sellers of the shares Pixonic by a number of investors, including top managers and co-founders of Qiwi, as well as Fund Addventure.
Mail.Ru Group yesterday announced that it has acquired 100% of the developer of games for mobile devices Pixonic. Full cost of acquisition is $ 30 million in cash,”— said in a press release. Co-founder and CEO Mail.ru Group Dmitry Grishin called Pixonic one of the “best teams of mobile games developers in the world.”
Pixonic was established in 2009. Since then, the company, according to its website, developed 40 games, the most popular of these was a game for social networks “Domovyata”, mobile game “Robinson” and War Robots. The latest project brings 97% of the turnover of the company, told “Kommersant” CEO of Pixonic Phillip Gladkov. As reported Mail.ru Group, at the end of 2015, revenue Pixonic amounted to 456 million rubles in the first half of 2016 — RUB 619 million Other details about the deal were not disclosed. Mail.ru Group has been bought by a constantly growing turnover with product War Robots and the team which implemented”, explained to “Kommersant” Phillip Gladkov. In the state of Pixonic has more than 100 specialists, development offices are located in Belgorod and Moscow, also has an office in Berlin.
According to the website Pixonic, its shareholders are the several funds, among which the French Ventech based Ukrainian business lady Viktoriya Tigipko, TA Ventures, Kite Ventures and the Russian Addventure, and co-founder of Qiwi Andrey Romanenko. According to the Cypriot registry, the largest package — about 30% — owned by UK and excitement of adventure”. “We are very pleased with the deal because the yield is 40 times higher than invested,”— said “Kommersant” the investment Director at Addventure Elena Mosolov sounded to the demonstration. Addventure invested $ 200k, and sold his share for $ 8 million, she explained. CEO and controlling shareholder system of instant payments Qiwi Sergey Solonin, in his own words, owns 15% Pixonic. “I think it’s a great deal for Mail.ru Group, they will strengthen its position in the mobile games market,” said Sergey Solonin. Co-founder of Qiwi Andrey Romanenko gave to “Kommersant” that a very favourable view of the transaction from a financial point of view, and for the future Pixonic. “Mail.ru Group is a strategic investor which can give new opportunities for more rapid development,” said Andrey Romanenko. Its share in Pixonic is also not disclosed, but, according to a person close to the developer, it is about 13%. According to the Cypriot registry, minority stakes in Pixonic Limited also have Phillip Gladkov and chief operating officer of the company Igor Klyukin, but they did not comment on this topic.
On the basis of published data about the transaction can be concluded, that Pixonic zero EBITDA, says the analyst of “VTB Capital” Vladimir Bespalov. By the end of 2016, the turnover the developer needs to make about $ 20 million, respectively, valuation of the company amounted to half the annual turnover, which is not so high compared to competitors, he said. “The favorable development, if the integration Pixonic will occur normally, for Mail.ru Group may encounter additional costs”,— says the analyst.
No comments:
Post a Comment