Sega offers to buy Angry Birds creator Rovio Entertainment

VIDEO game maker Sega Sammy Holdings offered to buy Rovio Entertainment in a deal that values the Finland-based creator of Angry Birds at about 706 million euros (S$1 billion).

Sega offered 9.25 euros per share in cash to the shareholders and 1.48 euro per option to the option holders of Rovio, according to a statement on Monday (Apr 17). The Finnish company’s board unanimously recommended shareholders accept the offer that is backed by 49 per cent of shareholders, including Rovio’s founding Haed family.

Rovio shares rose as much as 19 per cent to trade at 9.17 euro each as of 10:06 am in Helsinki on Monday. The stock has surged more than 50 per cent for the year to date amid deal speculation.

The deal brings to a close talks the Finnish mobile-game maker had engaged in with multiple parties since an US$810 million offer from Israel-based Playtika Holding Corp. had become public in January. Rovio said on Mar 22 that it had ended talks with Israel-based Playtika, but continued discussions with other parties it didn’t identify.

While Rovio hasn’t said why it rejected Playtika’s offer, Inderes analyst Atte Riikola said in January that its history of buying Finnish game studios closing their local offices was a possible reason Rovio’s founding family, which controls about 39 per cent of shares, decided against it.

Japan’s Sega is doubling down on console and smartphone gaming for long-term growth as its traditional businesses of pachinko and arcade machines face dwindling audiences and have been in recent years hit by waves of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of its best known titles include Sonic the Hedgehog, Crazy Taxi and Yakuza.

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“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,” Sega chief executive officer Haruki Satomi said in the statement.

For Rovio, the famous Angry Birds franchise is the cornerstone of the Finnish company’s operations. First released in app stores in 2009, the branded mobile games generate more than 80 per cent of its gross bookings. It was the first mobile game to reach 1 billion downloads, and Rovio went public in 2017 on the back of its success, with a market value of about 900 million euro.

The company’s first months on the stock exchange were characterised by dramatic slumps after its financial disclosures disappointed shareholders. The shares have never fully recouped the losses.

In its early years, the Finnish firm developed more than 50 games, typically with gloomy titles such as Darkest Fear, Cyber Blood, and Wolf Moon, before striking gold with Angry Birds, an entertaining confection that capitalised on the iPhone’s touchscreen technology, new at the time.

Rovio’s reliance on Angry Birds has worried investors, and the company has sought to expand to other brands and types of games. It has “several” new games in development and has acquired smaller rivals and games studios to grow in hyper-casual and puzzle games.

“The deal’s sole purpose is just to get a stable cash flow for Sega,” said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Toyo Securities. “Unfortunately, Rovio hasn’t been able to release new hit games. I can’t see any upside from this deal.”

The company calls the Angry Birds brand its “most precious asset,” bringing it discoverability in the crowded gaming market, and even generates a small slice of its revenue from licencing. Recent projects include a Netflix show that followed two movies since 2016, and Rovio also generates royalties from consumer products.

Sega’s offer is a premium of 63 per cent compared to Rovio’s closing price on Jan 19, prior to Playtika’s offer, and about 19 per cent relative to the closing price on Friday. Sega plans to start the offer around May 8. BLOOMBERG