By Joseph Waring

Sega set-out an offer to buy Angry Birds maker Rovio Entertainment for €706 million(US$774.13million) as part of a push to strengthen its position in the mobile gaming segment, a takeover bid supported by the latter’s board.

The tender offer of €9.25 per share is set to be formally made to Rovio investors by Sega Sammy Holdings through UK subsidiary Sega Europe in May.

Stakeholders representing 49.1 per cent equity in the mobile gaming player have already committed to take the offer, subject to general closing conditions.

Sega’s move comes less than a month after Rovio’s board rejected a takeover approach from peer Playtika, as it revealed it was engaging with other interested parties.

Rovio is best known for the Angry Birds series and associated assets, but also developed and published various other mobile games.

Sega indicated the purchase would lead to it absorbing Rovio’s “live-operated mobile game development capabilities and expertise in mobile game operation” with the aim of accelerating the creation of mobile-compatible and multi-platform versions of its existing portfolio.

Sonic owner Sega added it had been exploring investment opportunities in the consumer segment to up its development capabilities and “create new ecosystems” with a JPY250 billion (€1.7 billion) investment pot.

Sega Sammy Holdings group CEO Haruki Satomi noted “the mobile gaming market has especially high potential, and it has been Sega’s long-term goal to accelerate its expansion in this field.”

The company expects the transaction to close in Q2 of its 2024 financial year (the year to end-March 2024), subject to approvals.

As reported by local outlet Ziarul Financiar, the launch was revealed via an update sent out to the operator’s customers explaining the contractual speeds available to them. The message revealed that 5G users would be able to access respective upload/download transfer rates of 250Mbps/50Mbps.

The operator, which is Romania’s fourth-largest, elected not to bid in last year’s auction of 5G spectrum held by regulator ANCOM (National Authority for Management & Regulation in Communications). Its rivals Orange, RCS&RDS (Digi) and Vodafone all launched commercial 5G services in 2019.

Ziarul Financiar noted that the according to a coverage map on the operator’s site, 5G services are available via compatible devices in Ploiesti, Pitesti, Sibiu and districts of Bucharest, with a further ten cities set to follow soon.