Nazara To Make Its Biggest Bet Of INR 982 Cr In Pokerbaazi Parent

Listed gaming major Nazara has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a 47.7% stake in Moonshine Technology, the parent company of online poker platform Pokerbaazi, for INR 831.5 Cr through a secondary transaction.

In an exchange filing, Nazara said that its board approved the strategic investment by a way of secondary acquisition of 18.96 Lakh equity shares at a face value of INR 10 each of Moonshine Technology from its existing shareholders — including founder Navkiran Singh, cofounders Puneet Singh, Avneet Rana, Varun Ganjoo, Anirudh Chaudhry, Gurjeet Kaur, private equity firm Bellerive Capital and skill- and chance-based gaming company Influencers Interactive.

Of the total INR 831.5 Cr investment, Nazara will pay INR 592.26 Cr in cash while the remaining INR 239.25 Cr will be paid through a share swap through issuance of fully paid-up equity shares of the company.

Further, the board of Nazara has approved an additional equity infusion of up to INR 150 Cr into Moonshine through issuance of compulsorily convertible preference shares, bringing the total investment to INR 982 Cr — the biggest bet on any company by Nazara till date.

However, the transaction is subject to approval of Nazara’s shareholders and other regulatory approvals if required.

This acquisition will strengthen Nazara’s presence in the online gaming sector and bring Moonshine under its fold as an associate company.

Moonshine Technology has seven subsidiaries — Ross Technologies Private Limited, Baazi Networks Private Limited, Baazi Games Private Limited, and SBN Gaming Network Private Limited.

Moonshine also operates the online poker platform PokerBaazi through its 100% subsidiary Baazi Networks. Additionally, it runs a sports and casual gaming vertical under the brand name SportsBaazi, a step-down subsidiary, which offers online sports, casual, and fantasy games.

In FY24, PokerBaazi contributed approximately 87% of the Target Group’s net revenue, while SportsBaazi accounted for around 12%.

Nazara has been making multiple acquisitions in recent times.

Few days back the gaming major acquired a 15.86% stake in gaming community platform GetStan Technologies Pte. Ltd (STAN) for INR 18.4 Cr (around $2.2 Mn). 

Last month, it received the letter of intent (LoI) to acquire insolvency-ridden sports entertainment startup Smaaash Entertainment. In the same month, Nazara announced the acquisition of UK-based gaming studio Fusebox Games for INR 228 Cr.