Digital entertainment group MTG has agreed to pay €91m ($100m) for a 35% stake in Germany-based online game producer InnoGames.
Founded in 2007, InnoGames develops and publishes freemium online games, running four studios and employing 400 people. Its stable of games has a total of 150 million registered users.
MTG will buy the shares from InnoGames’ founders and Eight Roads Ventures, a subsidiary of financial services group Fidelity Investments, which invested an undisclosed amount in the company in 2010 under its old name of Fidelity Growth Partners Europe.
The first 21% of the stake will be acquired in the fourth quarter of 2016 and the other 14% in the first quarter of next year. MTG has an option to buy another 16% of InnoGames by the end of September 2017, which would give it a majority share, and to increase its stake further in future.
Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, president and CEO of MTG, said: “We are focused on digital verticals with global potential, and gaming is a truly global industry. InnoGames is the right partner due to its established position in the industry, fast growing mobile user base and exciting pipeline of new releases.
“We are now present in three complementary digital video storytelling verticals, and we will invest to expand this presence further.”
Sweden-based MTG, which also operates a range of media properties, will incorporate its share in InnoGames into its MTGx online entertainment division, alongside its digital content production and eSports ventures.