Report: Carlyle exploring sale or IPO for RuneScape maker Jagex
pcgamesinsider.bizInvestment giant Carlyle Group is reportedly looking into either selling RuneScape maker Jagex or taking the company public.
That's according to Reuters, which reports that Carlyle is valuing the Cambridge games firm as high as £1 billion ($1.25 billion). Morgan Stanley and Aream & Co are apparently advising on the matter.
Carlyle Group acquired Jagex at the start of 2021. Before 2016, the RuneScape maker was independent, though took on investment from Insight Venture Partners in 2005 – which saw the firm buy 25 per cent of the company – with the firm's stake growing to 55 per cent in 2012. In 2016, Chinese company Shanghai Fukong bought Jagex, before the firm was snapped up by Macarthur Fortune four years later.
Jagex is best-known for RuneScape, which has been running since 2001. The company also runs the retro-themed fan-pleaser Old School RuneScape, in addition to operating a publishing label called Jagex Partners.
PCGamesInsider.biz has reached out to Jagex for comment.
Disclaimer: Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist and writer that has worked with Jagex in the past on RuneScape: The First 20 Years.
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