The mobile games market is increasingly attracting the attention of non-core companies for the industry. Animoca Brands studio was bought by Black Fire Minerals (BFE), specializing in the exploration and production of gold, copper and valuable minerals.
The first information about the transaction took place in the summer of 2014. But it has come to an end only now. The Hong Kong studio cost the Australians $5 million (at least it should have). The acquisition itself took a non-standard path.
BFE, which is traded on the Australian Stock Exchange, changed its own name to Animoca Brands Corporation Limited as part of the agreement and changed its profile type of activity from resource extraction to mobile gaming.
Such a transaction is called a “reverse merger”. In the course of it, the absorbing company, as we see, becomes part of the absorbed company and ceases to exist, in turn, the shareholders of the absorbing company receive shares of the “acquired” company. However, within the framework of the transaction under discussion, it is not clear what will become or has already become of BFE’s resource extraction business.
Anyway, already under a new name, the company is going to re-enter the public market soon. The Australians have already earned $2.4 million on the deal.
Recall that Animoca Brands, first of all, is known for the development and publication of mobile games based on Garfield comics. BFE bought it from Animoca, which is also engaged in the creation and development of mobile games. The latter you may well know from the Star Girl series of games.
A source: http://venturebeat.com