Nazara Buys UK-Based Curve Games For INR 248 Cr

Nazara Technologies today said it has received board’s approval to acquire London-based Curve Digital Entertainment Ltd (Curve Games) for INR 248 Cr in an all-cash deal.

“The board granted in-principle approval to Nazara Technologies UK Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary, for the proposed acquisition of 100% of the issued share capital of Curve Digital Entertainment Ltd from Catalis Limited for an aggregate consideration not exceeding £21.7 Mn (around INR 248 Cr),” Nazara said in an exchange filing.

Nazara’s chief executive and joint managing director Nitish Mittersain told Inc42, “The agreement is signed, the board has approved and the deal will close in 10 working days from now.”

With this acquisition, Nazara aims to strengthen its presence in gaming, unlocking access to platforms, genres and geographies in the global PC and console gaming market.

Following the buyout, Curve’s publishing capabilities in the PC and console space and its diverse portfolio is expected to accelerate Nazara’s global ambitions and enable cross-platform IP development with long-term value creation, the filing added.

Shares of the Mumbai-based gaming major jumped over 3% to touch its 52-week high of INR 1,307.55 apiece during the intraday trading session on the BSE today.

The stock closed 2.3% higher at 1295.10 per share for the day, compared to its previous close of INR 1,265.90 apiece on Monday.

The development comes at a time when the company is looking to double down on acquisition across gaming and media sectors.

Earlier this month, it received approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for its resolution to buy insolvency-ridden sports entertainment startup Smaaash Entertainment. It also said that its subsidiary Absolute Sports was set to acquire two of Titan Insider Digital IPs — TJRWrestling.net and ITRWrestling.com in an all cash deal.

Since the start of this year, the company also bought an additional 8.97% stake in Absolute Sports Private Limited, making the parent company of Sportskeeda its wholly-owned subsidiary, and acquired a majority stake in Mumbai-based Funky Monkeys Play Centers Private Limited for INR 43.7 Cr (around $5.01 Mn).

On the contrary, in March, the company sold its entire 71.54% stake in Sports Unity, the company behind the multi-player quiz game ‘Qunami’, for INR 7.15 Lakh, and received board’s approval to sell 94.85% stake in its subsidiary OpenPlay Technologies to online poker platform PokerBaazi’s parent entity Moonshine Technology for INR 104.33 Cr.