iCandy Interactive, an ASX-listed mobile games company has announced that it has completely taken over the Singapore-based games studio Inzen. The company which had announced this acquisition plan in September last year revealed the specifics in a disclosure to its shareholders.
This deal’s first tranche was of 27,409,412 ordinary shares at A$0.136 per share. If performance milestones are achieved, iCandy will be issuing an additional tranche of shares worth S$2 million (US$1.4 million) at same, A$0.136 per share. With this deal, iCandy wants to be the ecosystem consolidator in Southeast Asia by incorporating games produced by Inzen Studio and its partners into one platform. It says this will allow them to reach out to over 20 million users across the groups.
The acquisition will result in the appointment of Inzen CEO and Co-founder Gerald Tock as the group’s COO who will be overlooking strategy and partnerships, while Inzen’s director Masahiko Honma (the Co-Founder and General Partner of Incubate Fund) as Strategic Advisor. Whereas, Inzen Studio will continue to operate and function with its brand and identity. iCandy believes the appointments will enable it to expand its capacity in incubation, investment and publishing.
Inzen was founded by game industry veterans who were previously part of Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab. It had picked up $1.3 million funding from Baidu Games, Incubate Fund, Global Mobile Game Federation, Hatcher and various angel investors. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Melbourne, iCandy has also announced Baidu Games, Incubate Fund, Global Mobile Game Federation and Hatcher as its institutional shareholders. This will help it ink strategic partnerships across Japan and China.
Initially formed as a part of venture builder Fatfish, iCandy later spun off to operate separately and went on to go public. It focuses on producing quality interactive entertainment for the global mobile games market. It invests in studios situated primarily in Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Some of the famous games under the brand include Mobfish Hunters and Crab Wars.
