Nazara Technologies Surges On Acquiring 100% Stake In Skill Gaming Company OpenPlay

Shares of the gaming and sports media platform, Nazara Technologies, rose as much as 5.51 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 1,805.30 after the company post market hours on Friday informed exchanges that it has acquired 100 per cent stake in Hyderabad based skill gaming company OpenPlay for a total consideration of Rs 186.4 crore in one or more tranches. In the first tranche of the investment, Nazara Technologies will acquire 23.30 per cent of the issued and paid up share capital of OpenPlay for a consideration of Rs 43.43 crores, by end of second quarter of the current financial year, the Rakesh Jhunjhunwala backed company added.

OpenPlay operates a multi-game consumer gaming platform under the "Classic Games" brand which hosts popular skill based games and operates highest standards of technology, game fairness, advance player protection, security, AML and advertising standards.

OpenPlay currently has an annualised gross gaming revenue runrate of Rs 80 crore and is operating on EBITDA positive margins, Nazara Technologies said.

"I'm excited to join the 'Friends of Nazara Network' and look forward to working closely with Nazara leadership and the Network to build India's largest vernacular social gaming and entertainment platform. Our technology complemented by Nazara's positioning in the gaming industry in India is the perfect combination for this endeavour," said Sreeram Reddy Vanga founder of OpenPlay.

Nazara Technologies shares, which got listed on stock exchanges in March this year, have jumped as much as 84 per cent from issue price of Rs 1,101, massively outperforming the Sensex which has advanced 18 per cent so far this year.

As of 11:01 am, Nazara Technologies was up 4.3 per cent at Rs 1,784.