(Bloomberg) – Sony Corp. is evaluating an offer for Leyou Technologies Holdings Ltd., people familiar with the matter have said, paving the way for an escalation of the auction war for the Hong Kong-listed game company.
The Japanese tech giant is working with a financial adviser on the potential offer from Leyou, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. In May, the Chinese game company confirmed that it had received a non-binding offer to buy from its Shenzhen-listed rival, Zhejiang Century Huatong Group Co., after months of buyout discussions with other bidders, including iDreamSky Technology Holdings Ltd.
Leyou’s shares increased their earnings up to 9.8% after the Bloomberg News report. The headline has increased by about 20% this year, which gives the company a market value of around $ 1.1 billion.
Leyou’s majority shareholder, Charles Yuk, has been in talks with iDreamSky for a majority stake sale since late last year. iDreamSky, which owns Tencent Holdings Ltd. among its investors, was in talks with CVC Capital Partners for a joint offer valuing Leyou at around $ 1.23 billion, but the Covid-19 pandemic paralyzed their discussions, Bloomberg News reported in April.
Sony hopes to rule out other bidders with more certainty of funding, people said. Yuk de Leyou aims to choose a buyer and sign an agreement this month, people said.
Talks are still ongoing and no final decision has been made, people said. Other bidders could still emerge, they said. Representatives of Leyou and Sony declined to comment.
Leyou was registered in Hong Kong in 2011 and included among its titles the free shooting games Warframe and Dirty Bomb. He is also working with Amazon.com Inc. to co-produce a video game based on the popular fantasy series “The Lord of the Rings”, according to his website.
Sony recently sought to bolster its content arsenal as tech giant Kenichiro Yoshida CEO said it would in turn boost the value of its branded consumer electronics. This includes PlayStation 5, the new video game console that the company plans to launch later this year.
Leyou’s Warframe is already available on PlayStation 4 and the company said in its latest results report that it plans to expand the game to more platforms, including next-generation consoles.
(Updates with more information on the seventh paragraph.)
bloomberg.com“data-reactid =” 38 “> For more articles like this, visit us on bloomberg.com
Subscribe now to stay one step ahead of the most trusted source of business information. “data-reactid =” 39 “> Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted source of business information.
© 2020 Bloomberg L.P.
