Nazara Acquires 100% Stake In Subsidiary Nextwave For INR 21.6 Cr

Gaming major Nazara Technologies has announced acquiring another 28.12% stake in Nextwave Multimedia Private Limited, the developers of the mobile cricket game franchise World Cricket Championship, for INR 21.6 Cr.

The acquisition would increase Nazara’s stake in the company to 100%.

Nazara had first acquired a majority stake in Nextwave in January 2018. Later, in May last year, it acquired another 19.5% stake in the subsidiary in an all-cash deal worth INR 15.5 Cr, increasing its total stakeholding to 71.88%.

The fresh acquisition of a 100% stake in Nextwave will help Nazara in strengthening its portfolio of offerings in the virtual interactive sports genre in India and other emerging markets, the gaming and entertainment giant said. 

Further, the acquisition is also in line with the growth objective of the company and with a view to consolidate its shareholding in Nextwave, said Nazara during its Q4 FY24 earnings announcement on Friday (May 25).

The total consideration of INR 21.6 Cr will be payable in two tranches. In the first tranche, Nazara will acquire 1,000 equity shares for an aggregate consideration of INR 2.3 Cr, payable in cash. 

In the second tranche, Nazara will acquire 8,375 equity shares for an aggregate consideration of INR 19.3 Cr, which might be discharged either in cash or by way of issuance of equity shares of the company or in combination of both.

Founded in 1995, Chennai-based Nextwave develops casual and multiplayer mobile games in the sports genre, including the World Cricket Championship, one of the most popular cricket games. It claims to have over 100 Mn downloads across platforms over the last seven years.

In FY24, Nextwave posted a turnover of INR 21.92 Cr as against INR 23.79 Cr in the previous fiscal year. The company reported a profit of INR 3.16 Cr in FY23. 

Last year, Nazara got a major fund infusion from Zerodha founders Nikhil Kamath and Nithin Kamath, and others. Nazara CEO and joint MD Nitish Mittersain told Inc42 soon after that the company plans to use these funds for new investments and acquisitions of gaming studios.

Last month, the company picked up an 8.5% stake in Web3 gaming platform Circle of Games (COG) for about INR 4.17 Cr. In January this year, Nazara’s subsidiary NODWIN Gaming also announced the acquisition of a 100% stake in Comic Con India for INR 55 Cr.

Meanwhile, Nazara’s consolidated net profit declined 98% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 18 Lakh in Q4 FY24. Its operating revenue also declined 8% YoY to INR 266.2 Cr in the quarter.

Ahead of its Q4 results, shares of Nazara ended Friday’s trading session 0.4% lower at INR 614.55 on the BSE.