Tencent wants to acquire 100 percent of Funcom

Tencent has launched a bid that would see them acquire 100 percent of the shares in Funcom, valuing the Norwegian developer at $148 million.

Tencent are already the largest shareholder in Funcom, which they achieved after acquiring a further 29 percent of the company’s shares last September. Now though, Tencent wants to acquire all of the remaining shares in the company, which has been welcomed by the management team at Funcom.

Rui Casais, CEO of Funcom, explained in a statement that the company has a great working relationship with Tencent. Furthermore, he expressed excitement at the opportunity that presents itself in this acquisition. He added that as part of the deal Tencent would be providing their expertise and knowledge as an industry leader, which would only help Funcom grow more.

Tencent’s offer for the remaining shares in Funcom values them at NOK 17 per share. This offer values each share 27.3 percent higher than they were valued at the close of trading on January 21, 2020. In total the bid values Funcom at NOK 1.33 billion, or $148 million.

The remaining shareholders in Funcom are free to reject this offer if they want to. However, the company’s management team and supervisory board have issued a statement that recommends they accept during the offer period. This offer period is expected to begin next month.

Steven Ma, Senior Vice President of Tencent, described how the company was impressed with Funcom’s prowess at developing open-world multiplayer and action survival games. The company has a history of creating games with long life spans, and Tencent wants that in their portfolio.

Currently Funcom is focussed on the development and support of their open-world multiplayer survival game, Conan Exiles. They are also working on a video game adaptation of Dune, the classic sci-fi novel. According to Funcom, the scope of Dune is far larger than that of Conan Exiles, and it has huge potential.

In a recent statement Funcom has expressed a need for additional funding for their Dune project. They have added that this acquisition would free up that funding, allowing them to create the Dune game they want.

Prior to the release of Conan Exiles, Funcom had been faced with losses, financial problems, and redundancies. The game managed to turn things around for them. The company would still be wise to sell to Tencent at the price they’re offering, but only time will tell if the deal goes through.