Internet venture accelerator Fatfish Internet Group Ltd plans to list, through a new company called iCandy, two of its mobile games businesses on the Australian Securities Exchange within the next six months.
iCandy will be made of two investee companies Fatfish added to its portfolio last year, Kensington Ventures and Malaysia-basedAppxplore.
Fatfish bought 70 per cent equity interest in Appxplore for $220,080.
Kensington Ventures, based in Singapore, has two games in store including a mobile version of popular Xbox game Carneyvale.
Appxplore has mobile game hits like Alien Hive and Mobfish Hunter and its five games to-date have recorded a total download of 12 million times from Apple’s Appstore and Android’s Google Play.
Appxplore is 70 per cent owned by High Joyful International, which is a 70 per cent subsidiary of Fatfish. Kensington Ventures is wholly-owned by Fatfish, Australian media Business Review Weekly stated.
Through a restructuring, Fatfish will acquire the remaining 30 per cent in High Joyful for $2 million to be paid over 18 months.
Appxplore will then be acquired by iCandy from High Joyful and other minority co-investors for $9 million, to be satisfied by $8 million in new iCandy scrip and $1 million cash. To park Kensington Ventures under iCandy as well, the former will be acquired for $5 million, transacted entirely in new iCandy scrip.
After restructuring both game developer businesses into iCandy, the company will head for its listing on the ASX.
CEO Lau Kin-Wai noted in Australian media that there was hardly any listed games developers on the ASX, vis-a-vis the exchanges in the US and Hong Kong and therefore presents an opportunity for Australian investors to get exposure to the fast-growing sector.
This echoes Lau’s comments last October about bringing Fatfish’s to the public market.
In a phone interview with DEALSTREETASIA, the investor had said that the target was to list two companies within the next 12 months, although the accelerator had not decided on which market to list in yet at that point.
Read here: Fatfish targets two IPOs in 12 months
he noted that the IPO would have been unlikely on the Singapore exchange as the investor community was more conservative.
“Australian investors are accustomed to understanding the dynamics of early stage companies,” he said, noting that the industry was worth $40 billion worldwide, growing at 20 per cent per year.
Source: DealStreetAsia
