We are all familiar with the gaming giant Tencent. Tencent owns shares is a lot of video game companies including some really big names such as Epic Games, Riot Games, Supercell, Paradox, Frontier and even Ubisoft. Recently, Tencent acquired 29% shares in Funcom becoming the biggest shareholder of the company but now it turns out that Tencent wants to purchase 100% shares of Funcom.
Funcom is registered in Oslo Stock Exchange as a privately traded company and Tencent is offering direct purchases from all of the shareholders. It is offering a price of NOK 17.00 per share which is a decent 27.3% higher than the closing price of Funcom shares on January 21, 2020. During the offer time, shareholders are free to accept or decline the offer. The offer time will begin early February and so far, Funcom’s management board and supervisory board have ‘unanimously decided to recommend shareholders to accept the offer.’
The acquisition will not change anything in Funcom management, staffing or structure according to Tencent. The company will continue to operate independently and will also continue to support work on its long-running online games including Conan Exiles, Secret World Legends, Age of Conan and Anarchy Online. Casais points out that Tencent is known for being a responsible long-term investor and is renowned for operational capabilities in online games.
Funcom CEO Rui Casais is pretty happy about the takeover as he comments:
We have had a great relationship with Tencent as our largest shareholder so far and we are excited about this opportunity,” says Funcom CEO Rui Casais. “We will continue to develop great games that people all over the world will play, and we believe that the support of Tencent will take Funcom to the next level. Tencent will provide Funcom with operational leverage and insights from its vast knowledge as the leading company in the game space.
Senior Vice President of Tencent, Steven Ma also commented:
We are impressed by Funcom’s strengths as a developer of open-world multiplayer, action and survival games. Funcom has a strong track-record in developing new titles with long life span. We are glad to deepen our relationship with Funcom and look forward to collaborating with Funcom to deliver more exciting and enjoyable game experiences to fans worldwide.
Previous years were the most profitable and successful years in Funcom’s history ever since the studio was founded in 1993. Conan Exiles and various other projects played a vital role in shaping the future of the company. Currently, the developer is also busy developing open-world multiplayer survival game based on Frank Herbert’s Dune. More details about the acquisition can be found out on the official investors’ section of Funcom’s site.
What are your thoughts on Tencent purchasing Funcom? Do you think this will be good for Funcom or not? Let us know in the comments section below.
