Playtika Makes Bid to Acquire Rovio

Playtika has announced its intention to purchase Rovio, the creator of Angry Birds, with an all-cash offer of €9.05 per share. This offer represents a 55% increase over Rovio's closing price of €5.82 on the previous trading day. The total value of the proposed deal is approximately €751 million or $813 million. The offer is non-binding, and Playtika has stated that no agreement has been reached with Rovio. Playtika initially expressed interest in Rovio with an offer of €8.50 per share in November. According to Playtika CEO Robert Antokol, the combination of Rovio's intellectual property and user base with Playtika's monetization capabilities will generate significant value for shareholders. This acquisition offer comes at a time when Playtika is undergoing restructuring, having laid off 600 employees recently, in addition to previous layoffs. Rovio's shares have not closed above €9.05 since 2018, except for a brief period last May. In response to the offer, Rovio's board of directors stated that they were not informed of the proposal before it was made public and will need to evaluate and unanimously recommend the offer, which also requires shareholder approval and regulatory clearance.