Embracer Group to sell Saber Interactive to private investors for $500 million

This is reported by Bloomberg, who also clarifies that Saber will continue to develop a remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

There are few details:

• under the terms of the deal, Saber will once again become a private company;
• It is unclear who exactly will become the owners, it is only said that a group of investors acted as buyers;
• It is clarified that the size of the tranche "opens up the possibility" for Saber to attract an additional number of assets of the Embracer Group;
• One of the key focuses of the news is that Saber plans to continue developing a remake of the iconic Star Wars role-playing game: The Knights of the Old Republic.

The data is unofficial. Bloomberg was informed about the upcoming deal by only one source, who, according to the media, knows about the transaction.

Official representatives of the Embracer Group and Saber declined to comment on the news to the American media.

Saber's headcount, according to a Bloomberg source, will be 3,500 employees after the sale, including offices in Russia, the United States and Portugal.

It is unclear where the last digit came from. According to official data for 2022, the company, including all divisions and studios, employed 2,671 employees.

Perhaps Saber did not stop hiring. To understand: the number of employees of the company increased by 73% from 2021 to 2022.

It is unclear from the news whether the companies that Embracer Group bought and made Saber divisions are included in the deal. There are about 20 of them. Including: 3D Realms, 4A Games, Aspyr Media and Mad Head Games.

However, given the mentions of 3,500 employees, it is likely that all of them are also leaving the Embracer Group.

This means that a group of investors buys assets for a much lower amount than the Swedish holding company officially paid for them.

For example, Saber cost Embracer Group $525 million in February 2020, 4A Games $45 million in August of the same year, and Aspyr $100 million in February 2021.

To be fair: they paid much less directly in money, a significant part of the transfers went in shares of the Embracer Group itself.