Tencent takes stake in game developer Seasun Group
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Chinese internet group Tencent, world’s biggest video game company by revenue, will pay $142m for a 9.9 per cent stake in game developer Seasun.
Image Frame Investment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Tencent, agreed to pay $62.2m for 4.3 per cent of the total issued shares of Seasun from its parent company Kingsoft, the latter said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
In addition to this, Image Frame has also proposed paying an additional $80m for a combined 5.6 per cent of Seasun shares from other shareholders, including WestGame Holdings, United Websoft and Xiaomi Ventures.
Seasun makes mobile games including Brave Cross, GO Titans and Ships of Fury, as well as the massively multiplayer online role-playing game JX Online 3.
Tencent is already a substantial shareholder of Cheetah Mobile, a Kingsoft subsidiary.
Last month, Tencent reported net annual income of Rmb41.4bn ($5.97bn) for the 12 months to December 31 – which came about 6 per cent below analysts’ forecasts – as rising content costs weighed on profitability.
The company also revealed in late March it had taken a 5 per cent stake in electric carmaker Tesla.
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