Westbridge-backed Nazara files for India IPO

According to a prospectus, the offering will comprise 5.2 million shares owned by Westbridge and 360,000 shares held by Mitter Infotech, an entity controlled by Nazara’s founders. There will be no new share issue.

AVCJ Research's records show that Westbridge invested $1.5 million in Nazara in 2005. Currently, the private equity firm holds 6.1 million shares, or a 23% stake in the company. The sale will leave it with just under one million shares.

Founded in 2000 by father and son Vikash and Nitish Mittersain, Nazara is one of India’s leading mobile game distributors. The company acquires games that target Android and iPhone users in emerging markets such as India, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Latin America, and launches them through its subscription platforms.

Nazara specializes in games with a small file size, to appeal to emerging market users with slow or unreliable internet connections, and that are easy to play and have a distinctive visual design. Its subscription approach is intended to improve monetization rates: while emerging markets customers are usually unwilling to pay for individual apps, they are more likely to subscribe to services that offer a range of games for a set monthly price.

As of September 2017, Nazara reported that it had 4.1 million paying subscribers worldwide, who had downloaded over 37 million games. The company’s monthly active users that month stood at 8.7 million, up from 2.8 million for the same period a year earlier.

For the year ended March 2017, Nazara recorded revenue of INR1.99 billion ($31 million), down from INR2.19 billion the year before. Over the same period, net profit fell from INR645 million to INR597 million.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Technology
• Consumer
• IPO
• India
• TMT
• WestBridge Capital Partners
• Exit