[THE INVESTOR] Netmarble Games, South Korea’s leading online game developer and publisher, has joined the race to buy Israel-based social casino game firm Playtika in a deal could worth over 4 trillion won (US$3.4 billion).

It will be the largest acquisition deal made by a South Korean game company since No. 1 player Nexon and NCSoft jointly attempted to takeover Electronic Arts for 4 trillion won in 2012. 





According to a source on July 6, Netmarble Games submitted a letter of intent for the transaction and is expected to participate in the bidding on July 7.

Netmarble has discussed financing some 3 trillion won for the Playtika bid with local institutional investors.

Suitors include financial firms and gaming, media and entertainment companies in China and other countries.

The move comes as Netmarble looks to increase its brand value and shore up the balance sheet ahead of its initial public offering slated for at the end of 2015 at the earliest.

The game developer has been seeking a global M&A target since early this year after hiring Morgan Stanley to explore potential deals.

If successful, Netmarble could expand sales to over 2 trillion won.

Netmarble posted 1.07 trillion won in sales last year, up 86 percent year-on-year. It broke the 1 trillion won mark for the first time.

Tel Aviv-based Playtika, creator of some of the top social gaming titles on the Internet, introduce free-to-play casino-style games to social networks including Slotomania and Caesars Casino which secured high sales rankings on Google and Facebook.

With the acquisition, the Korean company also aims to go beyond Japan and China to find new revenue sources in other overseas markets like Europe and North America.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)