23 November 2022 • 2 minute read
DLA Piper advises on sale of Popcore to Zynga's subsidiary Rollic
DLA Piper has advised the shareholders of Berlin-based mobile game developer Popcore GmbH on the sale of all shares in the company to Rollic, a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive.
Founded in 2018 by Thomas and Johannes Heinze, Popcore develops innovative ad-driven, free-to-play games for audiences worldwide that have been downloaded globally more than 500 million times across iOS and Android. Headquartered in Berlin, the Popcore team has 150+ employees worldwide developing, testing, and growing their games. Other investors included EQT Ventures Investments S.à r.l., Makers Fund and Foobar Iceland.
Rollic is an Istanbul-based game developer and publisher focused on free-to-play hyper-casual games for iOS and Android. In October 2020 Rollic was acquired by Zynga, that joined the Take-Two Group this year. By acquiring Popcore GmbH, the founders and Rollic expect to combine their respective strengths in the sector of hyper-casual mobile games.
The DLA Piper team was led by partner Andreas Füchsel and counsel Tatiana Marzoli (both Private Equity, Frankfurt), and included partner Pascal Kremp (Employment, Munich), counsel Dr Raimund Behnes (Tax, Frankfurt) and senior foreign associate Aleksandra Lis-Rychlinska (Private Equity, Munich).
This transaction fits seamlessly into the sector expertise in gaming of Andreas Füchsel's team, that most recently advised, among others, Aonic AB on numerous transactions in the gaming sector such as its investments in TutoToons, AddAptr, exmox, nDreams and BKom.
Founded in 2018 by Thomas and Johannes Heinze, Popcore develops innovative ad-driven, free-to-play games for audiences worldwide that have been downloaded globally more than 500 million times across iOS and Android. Headquartered in Berlin, the Popcore team has 150+ employees worldwide developing, testing, and growing their games. Other investors included EQT Ventures Investments S.à r.l., Makers Fund and Foobar Iceland.
Rollic is an Istanbul-based game developer and publisher focused on free-to-play hyper-casual games for iOS and Android. In October 2020 Rollic was acquired by Zynga, that joined the Take-Two Group this year. By acquiring Popcore GmbH, the founders and Rollic expect to combine their respective strengths in the sector of hyper-casual mobile games.
The DLA Piper team was led by partner Andreas Füchsel and counsel Tatiana Marzoli (both Private Equity, Frankfurt), and included partner Pascal Kremp (Employment, Munich), counsel Dr Raimund Behnes (Tax, Frankfurt) and senior foreign associate Aleksandra Lis-Rychlinska (Private Equity, Munich).
This transaction fits seamlessly into the sector expertise in gaming of Andreas Füchsel's team, that most recently advised, among others, Aonic AB on numerous transactions in the gaming sector such as its investments in TutoToons, AddAptr, exmox, nDreams and BKom.
