Yorkshire indie video game label, Team17, which has offices in Wakefield, Nottingham, and Manchester, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire astragon Entertainment GmbH (astragon), a developer, publisher and distributor of sophisticated ‘working’ simulation games based in Germany, for a maximum cash consideration of £83 million.
The initial cash consideration payable is £63 million, with a further consideration of up to £20 million payable in cash on the delivery of EBITDA performance targets for the financial years ending December 2021 and 2022.
In addition, a Management Incentive Plan of up to £6.25 million has been established for the existing management and employees of astragon linked to the delivery of EBITDA performance targets.
The acquisition is not subject to regulatory approval and is expected to complete mid-January 2022. The vendors of astragon are André Franzmann, Dirk Walner and FFF – Beteiligungs GmbH.
Debbie Bestwick MBE, CEO of Team17, said: “We are delighted to welcome the astragon team into Team17, and believe we are joining forces with one of the leading experts in the simulation games space. They have decades of game creation and publishing experience, have built an outstanding and highly devoted community and have developed an outstanding portfolio of owned IP across this genre.
“At Team17, we have always strived to build, develop and publish great content for the widest audience possible. With the addition of StoryToys and the expansion of our Games Label, which includes the recently acquired USA based ‘The Label’ and now astragon, we have significantly expanded Team17’s appeal to the widest ever cross section of gamers, spanning multiple genres and age groups.
“We look forward to working closely with astragon’s joint CEOs Julia and Tim and their whole team who share our ambitions to grow their own IP titles on the path to developing a leading global simulation portfolio brand as part of the Team17 family.”
Julia Pfiffer and Tim Schmitz, CEOs of astragon, said: “Team17 is the perfect home for astragon as we enter into this exciting new chapter. From the first day we felt that Team17 shares the same vision for our games and understands our target group.
“Our goal is to become the number one brand in the field of ‘working’ simulation games. Collaborating with Team17 will enable and help astragon to evolve and focus on this strategy. We look forward to the possibilities that are opened up by working with what we believe to be a great partner to deliver our ambitions.”
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