Alantra advises the shareholders of Saber Interactive on the sale to Embracer Group
SECTORTechnology
ServiceM&A
Value $525 million
Paris, France and San Francisco, CA – Alantra, the independent global mid-market investment banking, alternative asset management and credit portfolio advisory firm, today announced it has advised Saber Interactive’s Matthew Karch (Co-founder and CEO) and Andrey Iones (Co-founder and COO), on the sale of the group to Embracer Group for up to $525 million.
Founded in 2001, Saber Interactive is a leading independent developer and publisher of top-quality core video games for PC, console and mobile platforms. The group capitalizes on its unique technological capabilities including its proprietary game development engine and back-end tools for live operations to develop work-for-hire projects (e.g. The Witcher port to Switch, the Halo franchise), self-funded as well as co-published proprietary titles (e.g. World War Z, MudRunner, NBA Playgrounds and Ghostbusters). The group benefits from close to 20 years of experience in game development, during which time they have developed relationships with all major publishers, licensors, and retailers in the gaming industry.
Headquartered in Maplewood, New Jersey, Saber boasts a team of approximately 600 internal developers across 5 international studios located in Russia, Spain, Portugal, Belarus, and Sweden. In 2019, Saber posted revenues of $105 million and $62 million of EBIT.
Matthew Karch, Co-founder and CEO of Saber Interactive said: “Over the course of 19 years as an independent developer, Saber has had its share of suitors. With Embracer Group, we’ve at last found the perfect partner. We could not be more thrilled to see through the many projects we’ve dreamed of together.”
Closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals such as merger control clearance and is expected to take place during the second calendar quarter of 2020.
Alantra teams from Paris and San Francisco partnered to execute the transaction, leveraging Alantra’s inherently international and cross-border DNA, in close collaboration with Cedric Lagarrigue (former CEO of Focus Home interactive and Alantra’s Senior Advisor in the Video Game industry).
