A Major Stake in Playtika Will Be Acquired for $8.5 Billion

Israeli-founded mobile game developer Playtika is changing ownership: private equity firm Joffre Capital will acquire a 20% controlling stake. Playtika's shares will continue to trade on the Nasdaq after the sale.

Playtika is currently managed by a Chinese consortium, which will sell a 20% stake to private equity firm Joffre Capital for $ 8.5 billion, a valuation that represents a nearly 46% premium to Playtika's share price at the close of trading on Monday. As a result, Playtika's share price rose 32.2% in extended trading hours. However, the valuation is still around 20% lower than the $11.1 billion valuation with which Playtika went public just a year and a half ago, in January 2021, which was the largest IPO of an Israel-based company.

The deal will see a 20% stake in the company, currently held by a Chinese consortium led by Yuzhu Shi, sold to Joffre, led by James Lu, a former Baidu executive who is also chairman of LGTBQ dating app Grindr.