SEGA Sammy Holdings Inc. has submitted a €706 million ($776 million) bid to acquire Rovio Entertainment, a mobile games developer based in Finland, in a bid to establish its position in the mobile gaming segment by capitalizing on Rovio’s intellectual properties. SEGA Sammy’s UK subsidiary, SEGA Europe Limited, has entered into a definitive agreement and submitted a tender offer to purchase all outstanding shares and options of Rovio Entertainment at €9.25 ($10.17) per share and €1.48 ($1.63) per option.
SEGA Sammy’s President and Group CEO, Haruki Satomi, explained that the acquisition is in line with the company’s long-term goal to expand in the mobile gaming segment, which is a high potential-bearing area in the rapidly growing global gaming market. He expressed his excitement about the acquisition, saying that he felt blessed to be able to announce such a transaction with Rovio. He added that Rovio was a company that owned “Angry Birds,” which was loved across the world, and was home to many skilled employees that supported the company’s industry-leading mobile game development and operating capabilities.
The acquisition was approved by SEGA Sammy’s Board of Directors and is supported by Rovio’s Board of Directors, with shareholders of 49.1% of the outstanding shares and votes of Rovio undertaking to accept the offer, subject to certain customary conditions. The tender offer is expected to commence on or around May 8, 2023, pending approval by the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority, and will be considered successful if SEGA acquires a minimum of 90% of the outstanding shares and voting rights at Rovio.
The CEO of Rovio, Alexandre Pelletier-Normand, emphasized the power of gaming to shape modern culture as “a true mainstream phenomenon,” reminiscing on his personal experiences playing Sonic the Hedgehog and Angry Birds. He praised Rovio’s proprietary technology platform, Beacon, and its 20 years of expertise, which have allowed development teams to create world-class GaaS products. Pelletier-Normand was convinced that the combination with SEGA Sammy will further Rovio’s mission to “Craft Joy” by bringing even more joy to its players.
The acquisition will enable SEGA to accelerate growth, generate synergies between its existing businesses and Rovio’s global intellectual properties (IPs) and live-operated mobile game development capabilities to increase SEGA’s corporate value, expand both companies’ fan base, and achieve cross-platform expansion of Rovio’s IP using SEGA’s capabilities. The tender price offers approximately a 19% premium to the share closing price on April 14, 2023, the last trading day before the offer was announced, and approximately a 17.5% premium on the three-month volume-weighted average price ending April 14, 2023.