Five final bidders for the purchase of Nexon have been announced. The company can pay $ 11 billion
Netmarble, Kakao and three investment firms have submitted final bids to acquire Nexon. According to early forecasts, the price of the South Korean publisher reached $9 billion. Now it has grown to $11 billion.
The list of applicants for the purchase of Nexon looks like this:
- Netmarble gaming company;
- Kakao mobile messenger;
- KKR & Co. (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts);
- Bain Capital;
- MBK Partners.
The auction, at which the final bids of five companies were submitted, closed on May 31.
Currently, Nexon is the 12th largest gaming company in the world in terms of sales. Last year, its turnover was $2.3 billion. Whoever gets it in the end, this deal will potentially become one of the largest in the history of game development.
According to sources of The Korea Herald, we should expect the formation of a consortium to buy such an expensive stake. Netmarble was planning to create a consortium, desperate to keep Nexon behind the South Korean game dev. But for now, she is participating in the race on her own.
Dungeon Fighter Online is one of the most profitable titles from Nexon
The application has not been received from the Chinese media giant Tencent.
The fact that he is interested in buying Nexon was reported back in January, when the company was put up for sale. But it should be noted that Tencent owns a stake in both Netmarble and Kakao.
A controlling stake in the publisher (98.64%) is for sale. It belongs to Nexon founder Kim Jung Ju and his wife. They are expected to announce the new owner of Nexon this fall.
We add that all five bidders declined to comment for The Korea Herald.
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