Embracer Group CEO: we receive offers every week to buy our subsidiaries
In March, Embracer Group announced two major deals, the sale of parts of Saber Interactive and Gearbox Entertainment. At an investor event, the CEO of the Swedish holding company, Lars Wingefors, said that his company no longer plans to part with its divisions.
Borderlands 3
According to Vingefors, the sold companies had a negative cash flow, so their sale was necessary to improve the financial performance of Embracer Group. The studios remaining in the holding are necessary for its further development.
"Now, if not daily, then weekly, we are approached by companies that want to acquire certain assets of the Embracer Group. I made it clear that they are not for sale because they are a very important part of the group," Wingefors said.
Vingefors also stated that with the sale of Gearbox Entertainment, the holding company completed the restructuring, which started in June 2023. According to the plan, it was supposed to be completed by the end of March 2024, however, in the latest financial report, Embracer Group said that it was unlikely to achieve all its goals by this time. In particular, she doubted that she would be able to reduce the amount of net debt to 8 billion Swedish kronor ($760 million) by March 31.
Vingefors stressed that despite the termination of the restructuring, Embracer Group does not yet plan to return to the previous strategy and actively buy up gaming companies again.
"It's too early to talk about new mergers and acquisitions. We are now at the final stage of exploring the future of the band. Our main priority is to understand how we can better build processes and structure, how to use existing assets and improve their teamwork [...]. Our goal is to increase profitability and cash flow simply by developing great products and games," concluded the head of the Embracer Group.
Recall that at the beginning of 2023, there were 138 companies in the Embracer Group. During the restructuring, the holding closed or sold a number of them, and in others carried out mass layoffs. By December 31, 2023, Embracer Group had laid off a total of 1,387 people.
