Nazara Tech raises Rs 855 cr via preferential issue to fuel expansion

India’s only listed gaming company Nazara Technologies has raised Rs 855 crore ($101 million) via a preferential issue, which saw participation from SBI Innovative Opportunities Fund, Junomoneta Finsol, and Think India Opportunities Master Fund LP, among others. The company has recently been on an expansion spree as it has been pushing inorganic growth via acquisitions, and is looking to enter international markets.

 

In a regulatory filing on November 27, Nazara’s board approved the allotment of 8,959,728 shares at an issue price of Rs 954.27 a share.

 

In September, the company had announced plans to raise as much Rs 900 crore to fuel strategic acquisitions and fund business expansion.

 

SBI Innovative Opportunities Fund -- a scheme of SBI Mutual Fund -- invested as much as Rs 220 crore, while Junomoneta Finsol, an associate firm of Plutus Wealth, pledged Rs 150 crore. Meanwhile, Think India Opportunities Master Fund LP pumped in Rs 150 crore into the gaming major.

 

Other prominent investors, namely CaratLane co-founder Mithun Sacheti and his brother Siddharth Sacheti, invested Rs 75 crore each.

 

This is Nazara’s second large fund raise this year. The firm had raised Rs 760 crore from prominent investors like Nikhil Kamath, SBI Mutual Fund, and ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, among others, earlier.

 

Nazara had, in September this year, acquired a 47.7 per cent stake in PokerBaazi parent Moonshine Technology for Rs 982 crore, in what was one of the largest merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in the domestic gaming sector.

 

It has also acquired UK-based gaming studio Fusebox Games for Rs288 crore in an all-cash deal, and is looking to increase its stake in Absolute Sports -- the parent company of Spoertkeeda.

 

Earlier this month, Nazara had reported a 33 per cent drop in its net profit to Rs16.24 crore in the second quarter (Q2) of financial year 2024-25 (FY25), down from Rs 24.18 crore in the year ago period. On a sequential basis, profits fell 31 per cent from Rs 23.62 crore in the previous quarter.

 

Its revenue grew seven per cent to Rs 318.94 crore in the September quarter, up from Rs 297.24 crore in the same period last financial year.

 

Nazara recently also integrated with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to launch ‘gCommerce’, touted as an in-game monetisation platform that seamlessly integrates e-commerce within games.