One of the founders and CEO of board game holding company Hobby World, Mikhail Akulov, is negotiating M&A deals with video game studios. We are talking about companies with Russian founders. Vedomosti writes about this.
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Over the past two years, Akulov has consolidated several assets related to game development. For example, the local structure of the Owlcat Games studio and the sole owner of the company Sunstrike Studios.
At the end of 2023, Akulov registered Novodel LLC. As indicated in the structure’s list of activities, Novodel is engaged, among other things, in software development and game creation.
According to a source familiar with the situation, Akulov is now negotiating M&A deals with several “video game studios with Russian founders.” These aren’t big projects, but his portfolio includes recognizable gaming brands. There are no specific details yet on the terms of potential deals; may vary.
According to the publication’s interlocutor, in one case it could be about buying a stake in the studio or its Russian structure. In other cases, it is possible to purchase or transfer licenses for popular products.
Another source claims that the focus on asset acquisition is related to plans to hold an IPO in 2025.
Akulov himself did not confirm or deny questions about a possible initial placement on the Moscow Stock Exchange, but confirmed his interest in several projects on the market.
“I am always interested in getting involved in new projects and helping develop the market for both video games and board games,” he said.
Akulov, together with Ilya Karpinsky, founded the board game publisher Smart in 2001. The company produced games such as Munchkin and Carcassonne in Russia. As a result of the merger of Smart and the Fantasy World publishing house of Ivan Popov and Maxim Istomin, in 2010 the Hobby World holding company appeared.
Author:
Natalia Gormaleva
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
