Nazara Technologies, the first domestic gaming company to go public, on Wednesday said its board has approved a preferential allotment of fresh equity shares worth Rs 315.30 crore to institutional investors. The board has approved the "issuance of upto 14,29,266 equity shares of face value of Rs 4 each of the company, for cash, at an issue price of Rs 2,206 per equity share aggregating to Rs 315,29,60,796 to Gamnat Pte Ltd and Plutus Wealth Management LLP...on a preferential basis," it said in a regulatory filing. This is subject to the approval of shareholders and regulatory/statutory authorities, it added.

Share Market Live

NSE

Gamnat Pte Ltd, which is a unit of Singapore's GIC, will receive 11,77,680 shares, taking its post preferential issue shareholding to 3.62 percent. Plutus Wealth Management LLP, which will receive 2,51,586 shares, will see its shareholding go up from 6.57 percent to 6.92 percent, as per the filing.

In January, Nazara Technologies had stated that Plutus Wealth Management LLP and its associates had acquired shares worth over Rs 500 crore of the company from WestBridge. Nazara got listed on BSE in March this year.

In a statement on Wednesday, Nazara said the fresh funds will be utilised for the growth initiatives of the company. It will also pursue strategic acquisitions in the various business verticals of the company, including gamified learning, freemium, skill-based real-money gaming and e-sports, as it continues to expand its "Friends of Nazara" ecosystem, it added.

Also Read:

The Good Glamm Group acquires The Moms Co.

"We are thankful to our investors for their strong endorsement of Nazara's strategic vision and ability to execute towards its stated goals. The investment from such institutional investors will act as a catalyst for the Nazara flywheel to operate faster across all business segments and will result in compounding of the shareholder value organically and inorganically at parent as well as at subsidiary levels, Nazara Technologies CEO Manish Agarwal said.

The 'Friends of Nazara' network comprises established gaming companies in which Nazara holds majority stakes and works actively with existing founders and management teams to rapidly achieve scale. These companies include Nodwin Gaming and Sportskeeda in e-sports; Next Wave Multimedia (developer of World Cricket Championship, the largest mobile-based cricket simulation game); Paper Boat Apps (developers of popular gamified early learning app Kiddopia); and Halaplay and Openplay in the skill-based real-money gaming vertical.

In its filing, Nazara also noted that the board has approved issuance of up to 6,48,125 equity shares at an issue price of Rs 2,206 per share, aggregating to about Rs 142.97 crore, to Unnati Management Consultants LLP for acquiring 76.7 percent stake in OpenPlay Technologies. In August, Nazara Technologies had announced the acquisition of Hyderabad-based OpenPlay for Rs 186.41 crore.

The acquisition of OpenPlay Technologies from its existing shareholders, Sreeram Reddy Vanga and Unnati Management Consultants LLP, was to be done in one or more tranches. "Preferential issue for other than cash consideration for purpose of discharge of the purchase consideration for the acquisition of balance 76.7 percent stake of Openplay Technologies...," the filing said.

An extraordinary general meeting of shareholders will be held on November 3, 2021 to seek the necessary approval for the proposed preferential issues. The board has also approved the acquisition of 1,601 equity shares of Rusk Media for a total consideration of up to Rs 2.02 crore, payable in cash. "Nazara is investing in the capability of Rusk to create a scripted reality e-sports or gaming universe wherein Rusk brings the expertise of creation of content for Gen-Z and millenials... Rusk will be able to create an entertainment-driven content universe for gaming fans in India and globally," it said.

Nazara and its subsidiaries will have exclusive monetisation rights on the IP that will be created, along with the ability to monetise the characters, creators via mobile games as well, it added. Rusk's turnover stood at Rs 7.1 crore (based on audited financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2021).