Savvy Gaming Group, a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund, has acquired a $1 billion stake in Embracer Group, the holding company that owns numerous media parent companies and game development studios.
Embracer Group has been issued approximately 99.9 million B shares at a subscription price of 103.47 Swedish Kronas (SEK), which comes out to approximately SEK 10.3 billion or just over $1 billion, according to a statement it released. With the acquisition, Savvy Gaming Group now holds 8.1 percent of shares and 5.4 percent of the votes in the company.
Embracer Group owns and operates several media parent companies and game dev studios, including THQ Nordic, Gearbox Entertainment, Dark Horse Comics, Deep Silver, and Saber Interactive.
Savvy Gaming Group is owned entirely by the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia that owns roughly $600 billion in various assets around the world, including the Newcastle United soccer club and large stakes in companies like Uber, Boeing, Facebook, and Disney. The PIF also purchased a five-percent stake in Nintendo this year, building on its collection of gaming investments that include stakes purchased in Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, and Activision Blizzard.
The Savvy Gaming Group made a big splash in esports in January 2022, acquiring and merging two of the largest tournament organizers in the industry in ESL and FACEIT at the cost of roughly $1.5 billion. Back in 2020, both Riot Games (via the LEC) and another organizer in BLAST terminated deals with NEOM, a Saudi city development project backed by the PIF, following public and internal backlash to the initial deals’ announcements.
In Embracer’s statement today, the company said that the proceeds from the purchase will be used to further strengthen its financial position, which will enable it to continue acquiring new game publishers and game development studios to complement existing operations.
