Angry Birds maker plans IPO that may value it at $2 billion

HELSINKI: Angry Birds maker Rovio Entertainment Oy plans to sell shares in a Helsinki initial public offering, seeking funds to support its resurgence seven years after releasing its best-selling mobile-game title. Main owner Kaj Hed, 62, and some other holders will sell shares, and Rovio will offer about $36 million) of new stock, the company said on Tuesday, without providing a total value for the sale.

The IPO could value the maker of the Angry Birds mobile games and movie at about $2 billion, people familiar with the matter said last month. Rovio has emerged from a slump after changing the way it charges for game playing, and an IPO gives Chief Executive Officer Kati Levoranta ammunition to develop new titles.

The listing is set to test investors’ appetite for entertainment software, a group whose shares have barely budged from their offer prices following IPOs this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Mobile game makers often struggle to repl icate the success of initial blockbusters. King Digital Entertainment Plc, the creator of Candy Crush, was acquired in 2015 for a 20% discount to its IPO price amid revenue declines.

And Netmarble Games Corp, the maker of the Lineage and Stone Age mobile games — and South Korea’s biggest listing in seven years — has declined about 4% since its shares started trading in May.

A $2 billion valuation would translate into a $1.4 billion fortune for director Hed, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

He holds about 69% of Rovio after investing 1 million euros more than a decade ago into the company co-founded by his nephew Niklas Hed. Proceeds from an IPO could also help the company fund the “Angry Birds Movie 2,” planned for 2019.