Wakefield video games developer Team 17 agrees £83m deal to acquire German firm

The Wakefield-based firm will pay an initial £63m to acquire astragon, with a further consideration of up to £20m payable on the delivery of EBITDA performance targets for the financial years ending December 2021 and 2022.

In addition, a management incentive plan of up to £6.25m has been established for the existing management and employees of astragon linked to the delivery of EBITDA performance targets.

The acquisition will be funded from the proceeds of a proposed placing of new ordinary shares in the company to raise up to approximately £85m.

The placing is being conducted through an accelerated book building process.

It enables Team17 to enter a new and complementary simulation game category.

Debbie Bestwick MBE, CEO of Team17, said: “They have decades of game creation and publishing experience, have built an outstanding and highly devoted community and have developed an outstanding portfolio of owned IP (intellectual property) across this genre.

"At Team17, we have always strived to build, develop and publish great content for the widest audience possible.

"With the addition of StoryToys and the expansion of our Games Label, which includes the recently acquired USA based ‘The Label’ and now astragon, we have significantly expanded Team17’s appeal to the widest ever cross section of gamers, spanning multiple genres and age groups.”

The acquisition accelerates Team17’s entry into content offering to consumers in the simulation space. The group believes the demand for this kind of non-violent and cooperative entertainment games has accelerated as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

astragon was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Duesseldorf, Germany. Its IPs such as Firefighting Simulator, Police Simulator, Bus Simulator and Construction Simulator focus on non-violent cooperative gameplay. It has relationships with some of the world’s leading vehicle brand manufacturers, games and media companies.

astragon’s entire team will join Team17 as part of the acquisition.

astragon generated circa €26m of revenue and €5.7m of EBITDA in 2020 and had net assets of approximately £15.7m as at September 30, 2021.

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