이 기사는 2021년 11월 04일 07시51분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

Kakao Games, which has recently acquired South Korean game developer Lionheart Studio, has allowed executives of Lionheart Studio to exercise a put option in case it fails to list the company.

Kakao Games, the video game publishing unit of tech giant Kakao, said on Monday that it agreed to buy an additional 30.37% stake, or 225,260 shares, in Lionheart Studio through its European subsidiary.

Kakao Games will become the largest shareholder of Lionheart Studio, with a total stake of nearly 52% once the deal closes. The deal involves a clause that Kakao Games may pursue a listing of Lionheart Studio upon the consent of the two sides.

Executives of Lionheart Studio sold their shares to Kakao Games and bought shares in Kakao Games through a rights offering in the form of third-party placement. Lionheart Studio CEO Kim Jae-young, producer Lee Han-soon, technical director Lee Joon-seok, and art director Bum Kim secured more than 2.71 million Kakao Games shares, or 3.5% of its total outstanding stock.

Kakao Games has also granted executives a put option enabling them to sell their shares back to Kakao Games within a month if Lionheart Studio fails to go public even after it met certain conditions. If Lionheart Studio remains as a private company, its executives may exercise a put option once a year for five years within the limit of 20% of the total shares.

This is the first time that Kakao Games has ever promised to list an acquired company and granted the right to sell the shares in case of the failure of a planned listing.

This is due to Lionheart Studio’s stronger bargaining power thanks to the global success of its blockbuster mobile game “Odin: Valhalla Rising.” Odin topped Apple’s App Store on the first day of its launch and topped Google Play on the fourth day, beating NCSoft’s Lineage M and Lineage 2M. The game generated more than 100 billion won ($84 million) in revenue only 19 days after its launch.

Analysts estimate Kakao Games to have delivered more than 600 billion won in revenue during the first three quarters of this year. Odin is expected to the company’s new source of revenue after Kakao Games’ “Black Desert” service ended in the second quarter. (Reporting by Won-ji Hwang)