中資44億美元收購以色列遊戲公司

A Chinese consortium backed by billionaire Jack Ma has agreed to buy Playtika, which makes online casino-style games, from US group Caesars Interactive Entertainment for $4.4bn.

得到億萬富翁馬雲(Jack Ma)支持的一箇中國財團同意以44億美元收購美國凱撒互動娛樂(Caesars Interactive Entertainment)旗下在線博彩類遊戲開發商Playtika。

The cash deal is the latest in a succession of large outbound Chinese acquisitions and the consortium is hoping to tap into fast-growing demand for mobile games in China and other emerging markets.

這一全現金交易是中國一系列大型併購的最新一例，這個財團希望利用中國以及其他新興市場對於移動遊戲迅速增長的需求。

Chinese companies agreed to $121.1bn worth of cross-border transactions in the first half of the year, according to data from Thomson Reuters, beating the country’s full-year record for outbound dealmaking of $111.5bn last year.

根據湯森路透(Thomson Reuters)的數據，今年上半年，中國公司達成了總計1211億美元的跨境交易，超過了去年全年1115億美元的境外收購紀錄。

Gambling is illegal in mainland China but Playtika’s popular games like Slotomania and Bingo Blitz do not involve betting. The Israel-based company, which was acquired by Caesars in 2011, does not charge users to play but sells them extra services — the so-called freemium model behind games like Candy Crush Saga.

博彩業在中國內地是非法的，但Playtika頗受歡迎的遊戲（例如Slotomania和Bingo Blitz）並不涉及賭博。 Playtika總部設在以色列，2011年由凱撒收購，它並不向玩家收費，而是向他們銷售額外服務，也就是支撐《糖果粉碎傳奇》(Candy Crush Saga)等遊戲的免費增值(freemium)模式。

“Playtika’s growth has been exceptional, and highlights its outstanding team, excellent corporate culture, cutting-edge big data analytics, and its unique ability to transform and grow games,” said Shi Yuzhu, chairman of Shanghai Giant Network Technology, the Chinese gaming company that is leading the consortium. “We are looking forward to Playtika continuing to innovate and excel.”

“Playtika的增長非凡，這突顯出其優秀的團隊、卓越的企業文化、先進的大數據分析能力以及改造遊戲和讓遊戲增值的獨特能力，”牽頭該財團的中國遊戲公司上海巨人網絡科技公司(Shanghai Giant Network Technology)董事長史玉柱表示，“我們希望Playtika繼續創新並取得好成績。”

CIE’s parent, Caesars Entertainment, is undergoing restructuring and there had been suggestions it could sell off the online division, which also owns the World Series of Poker brand, as part of that process.

凱撒互動娛樂的母公司凱撒娛樂(Caesars Entertainment)正進行重組，之前有人表示，作爲重組過程的一部分，該公司可能會出售這個在線部門；凱撒還擁有世界撲克大賽(World Series of Poker)品牌。

CIE will, however, retain control of its real-money online gambling games and the companies said that the virtual currency used on Playtika will continue to have no real-world value.

然而，CIE將保留對其涉及真錢的在線博彩遊戲的控制權，相關公司表示，Playtika上使用的虛擬貨幣在現實世界裏仍然不會有任何價值。

Shanghai Giant Network Technology claims 50m monthly active users and is one of the bigger online games groups in China. In 2014 the company delisted in New York and earlier this year, it relisted in Shanghai via a reverse merger with Chongqing New Century Cruise.

上海巨人網絡科技公司宣稱有5000萬月度活躍用戶，是中國較大規模的在線遊戲集團之一。2014年，巨人網絡從紐約退市，並於今年早些時候通過借殼重慶新世紀遊輪(Chongqing New Century Cruise)在上海重新上市。

The other members of the consortium include Yunfeng Capital, a private equity group founded by Mr Ma, and Hony Capital, a subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate Legend Holdings.

財團其他成員包括馬雲創辦的私人股本集團雲峯基金(Yunfeng Capital)以及中國巨擘聯想控股(Legend Holdings)旗下子公司弘毅投資(Hony Capital)。

Playtika was founded in 2010 by Robert Antokol, an Israeli entrepreneur who will continue to run the company as chief executive following the acquisition. It says that more than 6m people in 190 countries play its games every day.

Playtika由以色列企業家羅伯特•安託科利斯基(Robert Antokol)創辦於2010年，他在收購完成後將繼續擔任公司首席執行官。Playtika表示，每天有190個國家的逾600萬人玩該公司的遊戲。

The company says that social casino games, where no betting is involved, make up just 4 per cent of the global gaming market but that this segment is growing steadily. It has predicted that the size of the global social casino games market will rise from $3.4bn last year to $4.4bn by 2017.

Playtika表示，不涉及博彩的社交棋牌遊戲只佔全球遊戲市場的4%，但這塊業務穩定增長。該公司預測，到2017年，全球社交棋牌遊戲市場規模將從去年的34億美元增長至44億美元。

Mr Antokol said that the Chinese acquisition would help the company to expand into new territories.

安託科利斯基表示，被中資收購將有助於公司擴張進入新的領域。