Saudi Arabia to buy major publisher – could be Capcom or Embracer

metro.co.uk:

An unnamed publisher is about to be snapped up by a Saudi Arabian conglomerate, and signs point to it being Capcom or Embracer Group.

If you’ve never heard of the Savvy Games Group, we wouldn’t blame you, but it sounds like it’s about to make a sizable splash within the gaming industry.

Savvy Games Group is a gaming and esports conglomerate in Saudi Arabia, one with the country’s own Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the chairman of the board. The group has already invested in multiple publishers, and now it has announced its intentions to buy one.

While it hasn’t stated the name of the publisher it’s eyeing up, the group has said the acquisition will cost 50 billion Saudi riyal, which is roughly £12 billion/$13 billion.

This can help narrow down the potential candidates, since that figure must encompass the current market capital value of the publisher, with enough extra to facilitate the acquisition.

That easily rules out most of the bigger names in the industry, such as Nintendo and Sony, as well as EA and Take-Two.

The most likely candidates would be smaller Japanese publishers like Square Enix, Konami, or Capcom. The Embracer Group from Sweden, which itself has been making multiple acquisitions recently, is also within the value range.

Capcom and Embracer Group seem the most plausible as Savvy Games Group is probably most interested in a company it’s already invested in. It currently has a 5% stake in Capcom and an 8% stake in Embracer Group.

It’s not just this one buy-out, however. The group also plans to invest another 70 billion riyal (roughly £16.5 billion) in minority stakes across multiple companies.

‘Savvy Games Group is one part of our ambitious strategy aiming to make Saudi Arabia the ultimate global hub for the