Tencent Offers $148 Million To Online Game Creator Funcom

Recently, in a piece of technology news, China’s Tencent has revealed it made a $148 million agreement to acquire all the shares of Funcom, creator of the Conan Exiles, and Age of Conan games.

Tencent, China’s social media giant and the world’s largest game firm, also took a 29% share of Oslo. It is a Norway-based Funcom way back in October.

One of Funcom’s most encouraging titles is Dune. It is an open world sandbox game on Frank Herbert’s Dune science fiction universe.

Moreover, Tencent made a voluntary cash deal to obtain all shares in Norwegian game developer Funcom.

However, Tencent already holds significant stakes in many prominent gaming developers, for instance, Riot Games, Epic, Supercell, Ubisoft, Paradox, and Frontier.

Meanwhile, the bid from Tencent was “greeted with enthusiasm” from Funcom CEO Rui Casais.

In a statement, Casais stated, “We had a great relationship with Tencent as our largest shareholder, and we are excited about this opportunity.”

Casais added, “We will remain on developing great games that people all worldwide will play, and we believe that the support of Tencent will take Funcom to the next level.”

He also said, “Tencent will offer Funcom with operational leverage and insights from its broad knowledge as the leading company in the game space.”

Pursuing Of Shares From Other Stockholders

Elsewhere, Funcom is a traded firm on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Tencent will seek to purchase shares directly from all the other stockholders.

Yesterday, Tencent offered all shareholders 17 Norwegian Krone (NOK) per share.

The bid is 27.3% sharper than the closing price of Funcom shares.

Meanwhile, shareholders are welcome to either accept or reject the proposal. It is during the offer period, which is to start in early February.

On the other side, Funcom’s management panel and supervisory board have generally decided to urge shareholders to accept the offer.

Moreover, Tencent does not plan to shift Funcom’s business. The company will only continue to provide for its long-running online games.

The games are Conan Exiles, Secret World Legends, Age of Conan, and Anarchy Online.

In a statement, Casais indicated Tencent’s reputation as an accountable long-term investor. It is with excellent functioning capabilities in online games.

Nonetheless, having had Tencent as a lead shareholder since October 2019 has only confirmed that notion.

The Senior Vice President of Tencent, Steven Ma, commented on the matter.

He said, “We are impressed by Funcom’s strengths as a developer of open-world multiplayer, action, and survival games.”

Steven added, “Funcom has a strong track record in developing new titles with long life span.”