Nazara Technologies, a mobile game developing company, has announced its plans to offer an IPO, which is likely to happen by the end of FY18.
If everything goes as planned for the gaming company, it will become the Indian gaming company to get publicly listed. The company has mandated ICICI Securities and financial services firm Edelweiss for the proposed initial public offering.
Sources reveals that the Mumbai-based company is expected to raise about ₹1,000 crore through the IPO, at a valuation of somewhere between ₹3,000 crore to ₹3,500 crore.
Commenting on the development, a source aware of the matter, said,
The company is planning to finish the listing process by end of March 2018, and is expecting a valuation of 30-35 times projected profit after tax (PAT) of ₹100 crore in FY19.
With this IPO, the company’s investor WestBridge Capital will partially exit the venture. The partial exit will clocking about 75-80x return on its 12-year-old investment.
WestBridge Capital, the UK-based private equity firm, has invested about ₹19 crore in Nazara between 2005 and 2007, and holds majority stake of around 55 percent in the company. The remaining shares are held by Nazara Games’ founder Nitish Mittersain and his family.
Commenting about Nazara’s decision to take the IPO route, Sandeep Singhal, co-founder and Managing Director at WestBridge Capital, said,
Nazara is a great example of all that can be achieved when a company takes a long-term view. It has a great future given its dominance and the huge market potential of mobile gaming in India. Going public will allow the company to maximise its potential.
Founded in 2000 by Nitish Mittersain, Nazara Technologies is a mobile games developer and publisher. It also exclusively distributes games for key game developers such as Electronic Arts.
The company has its headquarters in Mumbai, along with offices in Dubai, London, Africa and Singapore. It offers gaming subscription services to users across 74 countries in Africa, Middle East, Southeast Asia and the rest of Asia Pacific.
In FY17, the company claims that it generated revenue of ₹550 crore, resulting in ₹66 crore profit for the company. The company has been acquiring startups, and looking to acquire more, in order to stronghold its position in the online mobile gaming market.