Nazara’s NODWIN Buys Ninja Global FZCO For $3.57 Mn

SUMMARY

The deal was finalised last week (June 7) through a secondary transaction, as per Nazara’s stock exchange filings.

The transaction was for a cash consideration for $1.32 Mn with the remaining stake worth $2.24 Mn being acquired by a way of swap/issuance of preference shares of NODWIN Gaming International

The buyout will help strengthen NODWIN’s global emerging market delivery network and empower the company to provide enhanced solutions to publishers and brands in the Middle East and Turkey.

Nazara Technologies’ subsidiary NODWIN Gaming International Pte Ltd, an arm of NODWIN Gaming Private Limited, has bought Ninja Global FZCO (Ninja) for $3.57 Mn (about INR 29.8 Cr) in a cash and stock deal.

Ninja is an esports and gaming production company with presence across UAE and Turkey.

This comes four months after Nazara announced in February that its esports subsidiary NODWIN Gaming entered into a share purchase agreement with Planzet FZCO and its founders – Gokhan Kazar and Doruk Demirsa – to acquire 100% stake in Ninja Global.

The deal was finalised last week (June 7) through a secondary transaction, as per Nazara’s stock exchange filings.

The transaction was for a cash consideration for $1.32 Mn with the remaining stake worth $2.24 Mn being acquired by a way of swap/issuance of preference shares of NODWIN Gaming International, the filings said.

Out of the total purchase consideration, NODWIN Gaming International has paid $1 Mn cash upfront and has disbursed around $2.24 Mn through the issuance of preference shares.

It will pay the balance purchase consideration of $320,063 to Planzet FZCO in cash upon the completion of the sale shares transfer registration with capital markets regulator SEBI.

The Ninja Global buyout will help strengthen NODWIN’s global emerging market delivery network and empower the company to provide enhanced solutions to publishers and brands in the Middle East and Turkey, Nazara had said in February.

Nazara has been on a buying spree since last year, having acquired games marketing services company PublishMe for $2 Mn in October.

In January, Nazara said NODWIN would pick up a 100% stake in Comic Con India for INR 55 Cr ($6 Mn) in a cash and stock deal, to diversify its youth portfolio and expand its presence in the global entertainment space.

The same month, the company announced that it would invest €8 Mn (around INR 71.8 Cr) in Germany-based marketing services company for gaming and esports, Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH.

Recently, NODWIN Gaming parent Nazara raised around INR 510 Cr from a clutch of investors, including Zerodha cofounder Nikhil Kamath and SBI Mutual Fund. Speaking to Inc42, CEO Nitish Mittersain had said that the company would invest the fresh capital in gaming studios capable of producing top-tier games tailored for both the Indian and global markets.