PE-backed Bigpoint acquires Little Worlds Studio

Hamburg-based Bigpoint, an online game developer and publisher, is continuing with its expansion plan and has created a new studio in France. The initial production team will continue to develop the former Little Worlds games, as well as to begin producing mobile games for Bigpoint.

According to unquote" data, Summit and TA bought a majority stake in Bigpoint in April 2011, in a deal that valued the business at around $600m. At the time, the investors said they would not immediately inject fresh capital but planned to provide further funding for bolt-on acquisitions.

GMT Communications and Peacock Equity were the vendors in the $350m all-equity transaction, having bought the business for €70m in 2008.

Bigpoint has a portfolio of 65 online games and has approximately 190 million registered users. It employs 700 people across its Hamburg, Berlin, San Francisco, Malta and Sao Paulo sites. Turnover is in the region of €100m.

Company
Founded in 2004 and based in Lyon, Little Worlds develops and launches mobile games for a variety of genres. It has developed 70 games for Facebook, iPhone, iPad, Android, PC and Mac for clients including Ubisoft, Anuman and Atari.

People
Khaled Helioui is CEO of Bigpoint. David Chomard is former head of Little Worlds and new head of Bigpoint Lyon.

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• Topics
• DACH
• Consumer
• Portfolio management
• Acquisition finance
• Germany
• France
• Summit Partners
• TA Associates