Swedish Stillfront Group AG, a group of digital game creators and publishers, acquires the leading game developer in Southeastern Europe, Bulgarian Imperia Online JSC, Stillfront announced. The transaction is reportedly worth €10 million.
In their official press release launched last Friday, the Stillfront says that they have acquired 100% of the shares of the Bulgarian company, together with the whole team with around 50 members. The transaction, as explained by Stillfront CEO, Jörgen Larsson, fits perfectly into Stillfront’s growth strategy.
“Imperia Online fits perfectly into Stillfront’s growth strategy by broadening our portfolio of studios and games with characteristics that drive long-term gamer relations. Imperia Online is a leading developer and publisher with a solid and highly loyal user base. It is with pleasure I today welcome Dobroslav, Moni, Cvetan and the whole team at Imperia Online to the Stillfront family”, says Jörgen Larsson, CEO, Stillfront.
For the developer, Imperia Online this exit is seen as a strategic next step for the company.
“Becoming part of Stillfront Group enables us to continue our development of new products within online strategy games. We see this acquisition as a strategic next step for Imperia Online, and we look forward to sharing market knowledge and create synergies with the other studios of the Stillfront Group”, says Dobroslav Dimitrov, CEO of Imperia Online.
Founded in 2005 in Sofia, Bulgaria, by Dobroslav Dimitrov and Moni Dochev, Imperia Online is one of the leading game developer and publishers in Southeastern Europe with 25 released games and over 45 million users worldwide. The Company’s flagship title is Imperia Online, a medieval Massively multiplayer online (MMO) strategy game published on both browser and mobile platforms. According to the company date, Imperia Online has approximately 50 employees.
The acquisition is expected to occur this October, when the Swedish Stillfront will have to pay €5 million euros in cash to Imperia, and the remaining €5 million will be paid in newly issued shares in Stillfron.
“The cash portion of the purchase price payable upon completion is intended to be financed by cash at hand and the cash portion of the earn-out consideration is intended to be financed through internal cash generation. The subscription price for the newly issued shares related to the earn-out consideration shall correspond to the average price per share in Stillfront traded on the Nasdaq First North exchange during the 30 days preceding the end of the relevant fiscal year”, stated Stillfront in their press release.
Stillfront is a group of independent creators, publishers and distributors of digital games – with a vision to become the leading group of indie game creators and publishers. Stillfront operates through nine near-autonomous subsidiaries: Bytro Labs in Germany, Coldwood Interactive in Sweden, Power Challenge in the UK and Sweden, Dorado Online Games in Malta, Simutronics in the United States, Babil Games in UAE and Jordan, eRepublik in Ireland and Romania, OFM Studios in Germany and Goodgame Studios in Germany. Stillfront’s games are distributed globally. The main markets are Germany, the United States, France, UK and MENA.
