Embracer wants to acquire board game publisher Asmodee for 2.75 billion euros

The Swedish game company Embracer Group wants to acquire the French Asmodee for 2.75 billion euros. The latter is a publisher of popular board games including Catan, Ticket to Ride and Pandemic. Embracer wants to make Asmodee its own business unit.

Embracer is in exclusive negotiations with Asmodee, the company writes in a press release. If Asmodee’s current shareholders agree and the acquisition is approved by regulatory authorities, the parties expect the acquisition to close in the first half of 2022.

Paris-based Asmodee is an international publisher of board games, trading cards and digital board games. The company owns the rights to many popular franchises in its portfolio and sells 39 million games annually. Asmodee has 22 studios under it, which together own the intellectual property of 300 different titles. Asmodee’s offering currently consists of more than 970 games and the company has 2300 employees.

Games covered by Asmodee’s offerings include Catan, Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, Dixit, 7 Wonders, Azul, and Exploding Kittens. These games are for sale physically, but many games from Asmodee’s range also exist as digital variants. Asmodee also has collaborations with rights holders of Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, Disney, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and more.

Pandemic, one of the popular board games from Asmodee .’s portfolio

Embracer wants to acquire Asmodee to strengthen its position in the gaming market. The game company sees board games as an addition to the digital games market and believes this is a market that can grow a lot.

Asmodee will continue as a business unit of Embracer Group after the acquisition without restructuring, Embracer expects. Asmodee’s current CEO will also remain in place and the company will continue to be based in France. Asmodee thus becomes the ninth business unit of Embracer Group.

If the takeover goes through, Embracer Group will become the largest European game company. Embracer has been on a takeover path and has grown considerably in recent years. In the past twelve months, the company has made 37 acquisitions. The Swedish game company currently has 86 studios spread over eight business units. The company was previously known as THQ Nordic AB.

The acquisition of Asmodee would be the largest to date. Earlier this year, Embracer paid $1.3 billion for the acquisition of Gearbox Software. Last month, the company said it plans to acquire dozens more game companies.

* Takeover still under negotiation