S Sega eyes takeover by Rovio

Haruki Satomi, the head of Sega Sammy, said the Japanese gaming giant has taken the long-term aim of accelerating its expansion in the especially high-potential mobile gaming sector.

I am confident that there will be substantial synergies created going forward through combination of both companies brands, characters, fanbase, as well as corporate culture and functionality, he said.

Sega, the 15th largest gaming company globally, will detail the terms and conditions of its offer in a document that is expected to be released in early May. The deal is expected to be finalized by early July.

Kim Ignatius, the board chairperson of Rovio, said on Monday that it is still premature to speculate on the practical implications of the takeover, such as the degree of independence the game studio would enjoy as part of Sega.

We're feeling very positive about this and hope that we can get the transaction over the finish line, he said.

The offer is solid for the shareholders of Rovio, Atte Riikola, an analyst at Inderes, said in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat. It prices in, to an extent, the game studio's growth outlook and it is about 14 times higher than the studio's operating profit, a good level in light of the situation in the game industry.

The industry faced a challenge last year as the coronavirus pandemic waned, resulting in the first contraction of the mobile gaming industry. Many studios struggled to adapt to Apple's changes to advertiser identifiers IDFA, which contributed to the difficulty of targeting adds and bringing in new players.

However, Rovio has had a fairly stable growth outlook. Rovio was in such a strong financial position that it wasn t forced to sell, said Riikola.

He also said that Sega appears a significantly friendlier owner than Israel's Playtika, which submitted an offer worth 9.05 euros per share for Rovio in January. KooPee Hiltunen, the director of Neogames, echoed his assessment.

It is justifiable to say that Sega's motives for the acquisition are different. The operating model of Playtika appears to be to acquire game brands and transfer their development to other parts of the world. It was a realistic threat that Rovio would have had the same fate as Seriously, he told Helsingin Sanomat.

Playtika shuttered the Finnish gaming studio less than three years after it acquired, leaving about 120 employees redundant.

Shareholders in Sega were less excited about the idea and said it would not be a big deal. Japan's gaming giant shares fell 4.2 percent on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday.