Coinspeaker
Sega Sammy to Acquire Angry Birds Parent Company Rovio

Japanese gaming giant Sega Sammy Holdings Inc (TYO: 6460) has announced it has made a generous offer to acquire Rovio Entertainment Oyj (HEL: ROVIO), the developer of the much acclaimed Finnish video gaming giant. As reported by CNBC, the deal is worth approximately $776 million and it accounts for a 19% premium from the company’s share closing price before the proposed acquisition was announced.

Sega Sammy valued the company’s stock at 9.25 euros per share, with  1.48 euros on the options. The duo of Sega Sammy and Rovio have a lot of complementary components and features in common and they are some of the most iconic game development outfits in the world and have earned a high reputation for their innovations.

Sega Sammy considers the Rovio-owned Angry Birds as a title it can build on to chart its international expansionary drive.

“Among 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,” said Sega Sammy’s Group CEO, Haruki Satomi, in a statement.

The offer being made to acquire the Angry Birds maker comes as one that the company’s board appears satisfied with.

Angry Birds is “loved across the world,” he said. “I am confident that, through a combination of both companies’ brands, characters, fanbase, as well as corporate culture and functionality, there will be significant synergies created going forward.”

The Angry Birds character is not just a global brand, its role has expanded into different media. The Angry Birds game has been downloaded more than 5 billion times, showing how popular and revered it is around the world. With the game within the bigger Sega Sammy entity, the best of innovations are on track to be unraveled.

While the key initiatives bordering on the plans of Sega Sammy for the Angry Birds maker are yet to be fully revealed, it can be deduced that the game will be incorporated into the consoles of the company.

Commenting on the prospects of the two brands, Alexandre Pelletier-Normand, the Chief Executive Officer of Rovio said;

Red, the lead character in Angry Birds, and Sonic the Hedgehog were “two globally recognized and iconic characters made by two remarkably complementary companies, with a worldwide reach that spans mobile, PC/console, and beyond.”

The history of Sega which dates back to the 1960s and its successes in the gaming world in the 20th century remains one of its biggest milestones for sustainable growth. Sega Sammy was formed in 2004 when both Sega and Sammy merged to become an entity. Its deep knowledge of the market might account for why it is the favorite to acquire Rovio despite different offers from other market giants.

The deal to acquire Rovio remains one of the biggest the combined entity has inked since their rebirth. Shares of Sammy Sega are down 4.17% while Rovio is up 17.81% on the news.

Sega Sammy to Acquire Angry Birds Parent Company Rovio

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