이 기사는 2021년 08월 10일 07시57분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

An acquisition price of DoubleDown Interactive (DDI), a social casino game developer, is drawing attention after Netmarble recently agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based social casino game developer SpinX.

According to Netmarble on Friday, Leonardo Interactive Holdings Limited, a holding company of SpinX, recorded revenue of around $141 million (approximately 161 billion won) in the first quarter, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $28.9 million. It recorded revenue of $432 million in 2020. Netmarble didn’t disclose an operating profit, but accounting firm Samil PwC, which has advised Netmarble on its takeover, stated that Leonardo Interactive Holdings recorded an operating profit of $102 million.

Netmarble will buy the company for 2.51 trillion won. It will make a 126 billion won down payment within five working days from the agreement date, and 80% of the deal value, including the down payment, will be paid on the expected closing date of September 17. The remaining 20% will be paid over the next four years.

Among global social casino game companies, DDI, a subsidiary of DoubleU Games, has the most similar performance to SpinX. DDI recorded revenue of 422.8 billion won with an operating profit of 98.3 billion won last year.

DDI posted revenue of 318.8 billion won and an operating profit of 80 billion won in 2019, which is better than SpinX’s revenue of $190 million (216.8 billion won) and an operating profit of $42.7 million (48.8 billion won) during the same period. In the first quarter of this year, DDI recorded revenue of 107.7 billion won and an operating profit of 28 billion won.

DDI, which will list its shares on the Nasdaq, is valued at a range of 1.02 trillion won and 1.13 trillion won, which is less than half the valuation of SpinX.

DDI’s valuation was estimated by comparing it with Playstudios, a social casino developer backed by games titan Activision Blizzard. Playstudios recorded revenue of around $270 million in 2020 and adjusted EBITDA of $32.4 million in 2020. Although Playstudios’ performance is slightly poorer than that of DDI, its market capitalization stands at around 1 trillion won, which is similar to DDI’s. Industry watchers said the DDI’s valuation is reasonable compared to its peer companies.

SciPlay, whose market capitalization is between 2.4 trillion won and 2.5 trillion won, recorded revenue of $582 million and adjusted EBITDA of $189 million won last year. SciPlay’s revenue and profit is much better than SpinX’s although its market capitalization is similar to SpinX’s.

Netmarble’s acquisition of SpinX is to diversify its game portfolio and strengthen global business competitiveness. Samil PwC estimated SpinX to record revenue of $856 million and an operating of $187 million next year and its revenue to exceed 1 billion won in 2024. (Reporting by Sang-woo Seong)