The Swedish Embracer Group has acquired Gearbox Entertainment for an amount that can amount to more than 1.3 billion dollars. Gearbox is known from the Borderlands, Brothers in Arms and later Homeworld games and will become an independent part of Embracer Group.
Gearbox says the acquisition means it can easily access more capital. Gearbox seems to become an independent part within Embracer Group, partly because CEO and founder Randy Pitchford will remain at the head of Gearbox Entertainment.
According to Embracer Group, Gearbox will be its seventh ‘operating group’, alongside THQ Nordic, Koch Media / Deep Silver, Coffee Stain, Amplifier Game Invest, Saber Interactive and DECA Games. According to Embracer, the transaction will be completed within three months. That still depends on the approval of regulators.
The transaction consists of an initial amount of USD 363 million, of which USD 188 million in cash and the remainder in shares. Embracer Group also says that Pitchford and its Gearbox employees will jointly become a significant shareholder in Embracer.
In addition, so-called earnouts have been agreed, of 300 and 715 million dollars, again partly in cash and shares. These amounts are transferred if Gearbox meets a number of set financial performance targets.
Aspyr Media is also acquired in addition to Gearbox . That is the developer and publisher of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II for Android and iOS, among others. Embarcer Group pays $ 100 million for Aspyr. Again, it is a combination of cash and shares.
Swedish-based, Karlstad-based Embracer Group is the parent company of quite a few developers and publishers active in the PC, console and mobile markets.
Franchises such as Saints Row, Goat Simulator, Dead Island, Darksiders, Metro, Kingdoms of Amalur and TimeSplitters are part of Embracer Group. The company has 57 in-house development studios and more than 5,500 employees in more than 40 countries.
