DLA Piper has advised the Swedish company, Stillfront Group AB, on its acquisition of Hamburg-based Playa Games GmbH. Stillfront acquired 100 percent of the shares of Playa Games for a consideration of EUR 20 million, a four-fold of the 2018 EBIT. EUR 14 million of the purchase price is payable in cash and the remaining amount is payable in in newly issued Stillfront shares. The sellers may be entitled to an earn-out consideration, amounting the total purchase price to maximum EUR 45 million.
The Transaction is in line with Stillfront’s growth strategy in the area of strategy games and will further broaden its games portfolio. The potential for synergies within the group will be increased, to develop new products within online strategy games and to foster long term gamer relations.
Stillfront Group is active within three gaming segments; the PC/console segment, the mobile games segment, and the browser games segment, with focus on free to-play strategy games on mobiles and browsers. Stillfront is a global group of gaming studios with operations in Sweden, Germany, Ireland, Malta, the US, the UAE, Jordan, Romania and Bulgaria.
Founded in 2009, Playa Games is one of Germany's leading casual strategy game developer and publishers with five released games and approximately 70 million registered players. Its flagship title is "Shakes & Fidget: The Game", a cartoon style massive multiplayer online role-playing game. In 2016, the company generated a net revenue of approximately EUR 8 million and increased the revenue to a double-digit figure in the following year. Playa Games was founded in 2009 by Jan Beuck and Martin Jässing, the sole direct and indirect owners, both of whom will remain active as the key management team of the Company going forward.
The international DLA Piper team was led by Corporate partners Dr Nils Krause in Hamburg and Peter Ihrfelt in Stockholm, and comprised Frankfurt-based Intellectual Property & Technology partner Dr Kai Tumbrägel, Tax partner Dr Konrad Rohde and Corporate partner Dr Thomas Schmuck. They were supported by counsels Dr Jan-Philipp Meier, Corporate, in Hamburg, Cologne-based Gabriele Engels, Intellectual Property & Technology, Frankfurt-based Semin O, Antitrust Law, and Sebastian Kost, Tax, in Munich. Hamburg-based Corporate transaction lawyer, Dan Li, advised on the deal, alongside senior associates Dr Jasper von Georg, Corporate, in Hamburg, Frankfurt-based Sonja Beier, Real Estate, and Cologne-based Jan Spittka, Intellectual Property & Technology. Further assistance came from Hamburg-based associates Christine Uwase, Corporate, Frankurt-based Christian Georg, Antitrust Law, and Munich-based Georg Haberkorn, and Hamburg-based Florin Jeske, both Employment. The firm's Stockholm-based team comprised Corporate partner Peder Grandinson, alongside senior associates Anna Jussil Broms, Intellectual Property & Technology and Anna Berntorp, Corporate, and Corporate associate Anna Johnsson.
