Raid: Shadow Legends maker Plarium has been acquired by roll-up group MTG for $620m.
As we’ve reported previously, Plarium has been up for sale since May this year. The Raid maker’s parent company, Australian gaming and gambling giant Aristocrat, also said it is considering selling casual mobile games arm Big Fish Games.
MTG Group is also the owner of Innogames (Forge of Empires), Hutch (F1 Clash), Ninja Kiwi (Bloons), Snowprint (Warhammer 40k: Tacticus) and casual game-maker Playsimple. It is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.
$20m of the $620m acquisition will be deferred to 2026, says MTG, and the price will be offset by cash flow generated between Q424 and the deal’s conclusion, expected in Q125.
MTG also notes that the $610m figure represents below 4.5x Plarium’s adjusted EBITDA over the last year. Plarium generated $613m revenue and made $137m profit as measured by adjusted EBITDA in the last twelve months ended September 30 2024.
The combined MTG/Plarium group expects to have total annual sales of over 12bn SEK – around $1.1bn – once the deal is complete. Annual profit as measured by adjusted EBITDA will be over 3bn SEK, or $277m – effectively doubling MTG’s annual profits. The Swedish roll-up group is funding the deal with loans totalling $460m, with the rest paid in cash.
“The acquisition is closely aligned with MTG’s growth strategy and selective approach to M&A,” said MTG in a statement. “Plarium will enable the group to accelerate its organic evolution through even stronger live-ops capabilities and expands the group’s new game pipeline. Plarium’s proprietary tools and technology platform will further enhance MTG’s commercial capabilities and operating model.”
