Japan's SoftBank acquires VC-backed Supercell for $1.5b

SoftBank is making the acquisition alongside its games software unit, GungHo Online Entertainment, which is contributing to 20% of the buying price.

Set up in 2010, Supercell is the developer of two popular mobile games, Clash of Clans and Hay Day. Its games are played on both the Apple iOS operating system - used on iPads and iPhones - and Google's Android platform.

SoftBank acquired its stake from a group of private equity and venture capital investors led by Accel Partners. Accel had bought a minority stake in the business in May 2011 for $12 million after investing in another Finnish mobile-phone gamemaker, Rovio Mobile - the makers of Angry Birds. Supercell then closed another $130 million round of financing in April that valued it at $780 million.

SoftBank - which also paid $21.6 billion for control of US mobile firm Sprint Corp. and invested $150 million in 2010 to acquire a stake in Zynga Game - plans to complete the transaction by early November.

Set up in 1981, SoftBank has stakes in more than 1,000 Internet operations including Yahoo Japan Corp and Ustream. It also owns more than a third of China's largest e-commerce company Alibaba Group.

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• Topics
• North Asia
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• Venture
• Accel Partners
• TMT