Tencent close to making a deal with ‘Clash of Clans’ maker Supercell
Chinese media behemoth Tencent is close to making a deal to buy Supercell, a gaming company that makes popular titles such as ‘Clash of Clans’.
Supercell is currently owned by Softbank (a 73 per cent stake) and The Wall Street Journal reports that Tencent is now close to finalising the deal with the company, after weeks of negotiations.
According to the report, the deal that’s on the table would value the European games maker at almost $9 billion. It says Tencent is currently speaking with other financial advisors to join the deal together as co-investors.
Tencent, via properties such as its messaging platform Wechat, is no stranger to the gaming world, particularly within the more casual and mobile gaming ecosystem. This deal would improve its global footprint in this arena significantly.
Tencent, and its Chinese media contemporaries such as Alibaba and Baidu, have been making significant investments in a wide variety of properties and businesses this year. The most recent was a surprise deal in which all three bought a stake in Chinese auto website Bitauto.