Leaf Mobile has acquired fellow Canadian mobile games specialist East Side Games for CAD $159 million (USD $125 million).
As per the agreement, CAD $19 million (USD $14.9 million) will be paid in an initial cash sum, to go alongside 444 million shares in Leaf.
However, the remaining payment is subject to the performance of Leaf Mobile for the periods ending February 5th 2022 and February 5th 2023. Overall, the deal has a potential remaining value of CAD $40 million (USD $31.4 million).
“We are tremendously excited to officially welcome East Side Games, a leading Canadian publisher and developer of mobile games, to the Leaf Mobile family,” said Leaf Mobile CEO Darcy Taylor.
“ESG has an outstanding track record of bringing world-class franchises to life and providing top tier mobile experiences to their users. The values and a purpose-driven mentality within ESG’s team culture are strongly aligned with Leaf’s.
“We are confident that this acquisition will generate significant long-term shareholder value and we look forward to continuing to add top-tier, like-minded studios to the LEAF Mobile family moving ahead.”
Going forward
Upon completion of the deal, East Side Games chief product officer Jason Bailey has been named as the new chief revenue officer of Leaf Mobile.
Furthermore, Leaf has made the decision to delist from the TSX Venture Exchange, and will instead begin to trade on the Toronto stock exchange. Trading will commence on February 10th, with the company listed under “LEAF.”
“The team at ESG is extremely excited to take this massive next step in our journey. By amalgamating our assets and talent with LEAF Mobile, we become one of, if not the leading, publicly-traded mobile game company in Canada,” said Bailey.
“Now, together with Leaf, we look to supercharge our game growth and secure new IP licenses, while adding bench talent and diversifying our successful game portfolio. In my new role as Chief Revenue Officer of Leaf Mobile, I look forward to executing our M&A strategy and building development partnerships for our IdleKit platform.
“We are confident that the framework we have built in the IdleKit product will change how game development is done industry-wide.”
Recently, former King senior manager Marchiano Loen joined East Side Games as its new lead game designer.
