15 Nov 2019 07:03
15 November 2019
SUMO GROUP PLC
("Sumo Group" or the "Company")
Statement regarding acquisition of shareholding by Tencent Holdings Limited
The Company announces that Tencent Holdings Limited (through a direct wholly owned subsidiary) ("Tencent") and Perwyn Bidco (UK) Limited ("Perwyn") have notified the Company that they have entered into an agreement for the acquisition by Tencent from Perwyn of 15,000,000 shares in the Company.
Tencent is one of the world's leading internet companies. Following the acquisition of these shares from Perwyn, Tencent will hold a 9.96% interest in the Company.
The shares are being acquired by Tencent from Perwyn, an evergreen, family-funded private equity business and investor in Sumo Group since September 2016. Following the sale of these shares, Perwyn will retain a 17.38% interest in the Company.
Carl Cavers, Chief Executive Officer of Sumo Group, said: "We are delighted that Tencent have chosen to acquire a shareholding in the Company, and we look forward to working with Tencent to explore co-development opportunities. When Perwyn invested in Sumo Digital in September 2016 we were a private company with annual revenue of around £24m and operated from three studios in two countries. We are now a public company and, following the recent announcement of our new studio in Warrington in the north west of England, now have ten studios in three countries and reported revenue of more than £38m for the year ended 31 December 2018. I would like to thank Perwyn, once again, for their original investment and for their ongoing support of the business."
Steven Ma, Head of Tencent Games, said, "We are glad to invest in Sumo Group, a leading independent co-development studio. We look forward to supporting Sumo's growth and exploring collaborations with the Company to bring more interactive entertainment experiences to global audiences."
Tencent connects hundreds of millions of Internet users every day. It operates communications and social platforms, digital content (including online games, video, literature, music, and media), payment and cloud businesses. Tencent is the world's largest game developer and publisher by revenue. It has invested in several innovative and successful game developers and publishers globally.
Enquiries: | |
Sumo Group plc | Tel: +44 (0) 114 242 6766 |
Carl Cavers, Chief Executive Officer | |
David Wilton, Chief Financial Officer | |
Zeus Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser & Broker) | |
Nick Cowles / Richard Darlington / Andrew Jones | Tel: +44 (0) 161 831 1512 |
Ben Robertson / John Goold | Tel: +44 (0) 203 829 5000 |
Belvedere Communications Limited |
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Cat Valentine (cvalentine@belvederepr.com) | Tel: +44 (0) 7715 769 078 |
Keeley Clarke (kclarke@belvederepr.com) | Tel: +44 (0) 7967 816 525 |
Llew Angus (langus@belvederepr.com) | Tel: +44 (0) 7407 023 147 |
About Sumo Group - www.sumogroupplc.com
Sumo Group's businesses provide acclaimed development and design services to the video games and entertainment industries from studios in the UK, India, and Canada.
Sumo Digital, as the group's primary business, is one of the UK's largest independent developers of AAA-rated video games, having studios in Sheffield, Newcastle, Nottingham, Brighton, Leeds, Leamington Spa, Warrington and Pune, India. The business has acquired two studios since IPO, which operate under their own names, BAFTA award-winning The Chinese Room and Red Kite Games. Sumo Digital provides turnkey and co-development solutions to a global blue-chip client base.
Atomhawk is a multi-award-winning visual design company, with studios in Newcastle and in Vancouver (Canada), servicing the games, film and visual effects industries.
Together, the Group delivers full-spectrum visual and development solutions, which include initial visual concepts, conceiving new products and game development involving all aspects of pre-production, production & development, as well as supporting games as a service.