A Fieldfisher cross-practice and cross-border team advised Focus Home Interactive on its acquisition of 100% of the share capital of the German company, Deck13 Interactive GmbH (“Deck13”).
Focus Home Interactive, whose shares are listed on Euronext Growth Paris, is a leading French publisher of video games. Its vocation is to support leading international studios in the development, production monitoring, marketing, sales and financing of their projects. As a publisher of strong brands such as The Surge, Vampyr, Mudrunner and Call of Cthulhu, the company generated revenues of €143 million in 2019/20.
Deck13 is a leading German game development studio and long-time partner of Focus Home Interactive, with whom the franchise The Surge was developed and achieved revenue of €5.5 million in 2019.
Focus Home Interactive thus acquires 100% of Deck13’s share capital for a total amount of €7.1 million (of which €6.5 million in cash from the new banking facility and €0.6 million in shares held in treasury) and a long-term incentive plan for Deck13 managers.
Indeed, as part of its development and acquisition strategy, Focus Home Interactive set up in early February 2020 a financing plan with five banks and Bpifrance Financement for a total amount of €46 million. This financing consists of several credit lines (€23.5 million), a revolving credit facility (€15 million) and two credit lines (€7.5 million) with Bpifrance Financement.
This acquisition is a part of the company's EEE (Enhance-Evolve-Explore) strategic plan, implemented at the end of 2018, and will enable Focus Home Interactive to take full control of the intellectual property. In addition, the company is acquiring its publishing service for indie-developments which will help Focus Home Interactive to explore new opportunities.
Samuel Pallotto, head of the Capital Markets department of Fieldfisher Paris, comments: "we are pleased to have assisted Focus Home Interactive with this transaction and we thank them for their renewed trust for almost four years. This acquisition confirms our ability to work on cross-border operations with different legal aspects, implying involving close collaboration between several Fieldfisher Paris teams and some of our foreign offices".
For this transaction, Focus Home Interactive was assisted by Fieldfisher with, in Paris, Samuel Pallotto, partner in charge, Mathilde Cazé and Charlotte Wright, associates, on M&A aspects, Hélène Lefebvre, partner, and Adrien Dubois, associate, on financing aspects. In Germany, the Fieldfisher team was made up of Florian Streiber, partner, and Ulf Marhenke, counsel, on M&A aspects.
The sellers were assisted by Brehm & v. Moers in Germany and Iteanu Société d'Avocats in France.
The lending banks were advised by Reed Smith LLP.
Focus Home Interactive, whose shares are listed on Euronext Growth Paris, is a leading French publisher of video games. Its vocation is to support leading international studios in the development, production monitoring, marketing, sales and financing of their projects. As a publisher of strong brands such as The Surge, Vampyr, Mudrunner and Call of Cthulhu, the company generated revenues of €143 million in 2019/20.
Deck13 is a leading German game development studio and long-time partner of Focus Home Interactive, with whom the franchise The Surge was developed and achieved revenue of €5.5 million in 2019.
Focus Home Interactive thus acquires 100% of Deck13’s share capital for a total amount of €7.1 million (of which €6.5 million in cash from the new banking facility and €0.6 million in shares held in treasury) and a long-term incentive plan for Deck13 managers.
Indeed, as part of its development and acquisition strategy, Focus Home Interactive set up in early February 2020 a financing plan with five banks and Bpifrance Financement for a total amount of €46 million. This financing consists of several credit lines (€23.5 million), a revolving credit facility (€15 million) and two credit lines (€7.5 million) with Bpifrance Financement.
This acquisition is a part of the company's EEE (Enhance-Evolve-Explore) strategic plan, implemented at the end of 2018, and will enable Focus Home Interactive to take full control of the intellectual property. In addition, the company is acquiring its publishing service for indie-developments which will help Focus Home Interactive to explore new opportunities.
Samuel Pallotto, head of the Capital Markets department of Fieldfisher Paris, comments: "we are pleased to have assisted Focus Home Interactive with this transaction and we thank them for their renewed trust for almost four years. This acquisition confirms our ability to work on cross-border operations with different legal aspects, implying involving close collaboration between several Fieldfisher Paris teams and some of our foreign offices".
For this transaction, Focus Home Interactive was assisted by Fieldfisher with, in Paris, Samuel Pallotto, partner in charge, Mathilde Cazé and Charlotte Wright, associates, on M&A aspects, Hélène Lefebvre, partner, and Adrien Dubois, associate, on financing aspects. In Germany, the Fieldfisher team was made up of Florian Streiber, partner, and Ulf Marhenke, counsel, on M&A aspects.
The sellers were assisted by Brehm & v. Moers in Germany and Iteanu Société d'Avocats in France.
The lending banks were advised by Reed Smith LLP.