Israeli mobile games company Playtika (Nasdaq: PLTK) has announced that it "has ended preliminary discussions" to buy Rovio Entertainment, the producer of 'Angry Birds.'
In January Playtika, led by CEO Robert Antokol, submitted a non-binding proposal to buy the Finnish company for €690 million. Playtika had offered to buy Rovio shares for €9.05 each, a 60% premium on the then share price.
Herzliya-based Playtika is traded on Nasdaq at a market cap of $4 billion, two years after its IPO at a company valuation of $11 billion. At the end of 2022 the company had $769 million cash in its coffers.
Playtika's revenue was $2.6 billion in 2022, up only 1.3% from 2021, compared with 8.9% revenue growth in 2021. In the fourth quarter revenue was $631 million, down 2.7% from the fourth quarter of 2021.
In 2022, private equity firm Joffre Capital reported that it had bought a 25.7% stake in Playtika for $2.2 billion from one of the Chinese members of the consortium controlling the company. Joffre paid $21 a share, while today's share price is $10.9. Subsequently Joffre tried to cancel the deal after raising charges against Playtika's management.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 22, 2023.
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