[THE INVESTOR] South Korean mobile game developer Netmarble Games’ recent bid to acquire Israel-based mobile gaming company Playtika is just one of a string of merger and acquisition deals that Netmarble has been pursuing to attract investors.

By the end of this year, Netmarble Games is set to issue an initial public offering to draw at least 5 trillion won (US$ 4.36 billion).

Based in Tel Aviv, Playtika is an affiliate of Caesars Interactive Entertainment -- an SNS-based casino game developer that is a part of America’s biggest casino operator Caesars Entertainment.

Playtika -- priced at around $4 billion -- would be quite a catch for Netmarble, which is out to shore up its business and image to become more attractive to global investors.


Netmarble chairman, a local legend 

Many say Netmarble chairman Bang Joon-hyuk, 48, is seeking a game-changer with the bid for Playtika.

Bang is a legend on the local gaming scene.

He grew up poor, and went through many failures before he set up Netmarble in 2000 with a capital of 100 million won (US$ 87,209).

He sold the firm to CJ Group in 2004. Netmarble was turned into CJ Internet, and Bang headed the firm until 2006 when he left for five years due to health reasons. In 2011, he returned as main advisor at CJ E&M.

When CJ Netmarble was spun off in 2014, it was merged with CJ Games to herald the birth of CJ Netmarble.

Bank became the largest shareholder of CJ Netmarble. In 2014, there was yet another name change, and the firm became Netmarble Games. Bang was named chairman of the board.

Since then, the company has experienced explosive growth.

It underwent aggressive M&As to step closer to its vision of expanding into global markets such as North America, Europe and China.

In 2015, Netmarble acquired US mobile game company SGN -- created by MySpace founder Christ DeWolfe -- for US$130 million.

In 2014, Netmarble invested US$500 million in Chinese Internet service firm Tencent.

Tencent currently owns a 25.26 percent stake in Netmarble through its affiliate HanRiver Investment.

Netmarble also grew in terms of sales. In 2014, sales stood at 575.6 billion won (S$50.19 million), with an operating profit of 103.5 billion won.

But in just a year, Netmarble’s earnings more than doubled, with sales reaching 1.72 trillion won, while operating profit stood at 225.3 billion won.

Netmarble’s earnings goal is to achieve 2 trillion won of sales by 2017.


Upcoming IPO
 

If Netmarble becomes successful in drawing 5 trillion won as planned, Bang, who owns a 32.36 stake in the firm, will be worth up to 1.6 trillion won.

His fortune would match that of Kakao chairman Kim Bum-soo and NXC head Kim Jung-ju.

According to The Investor and Herald Business, Kim Bum-soo is worth 2.92 trillion won, while Kim Jung-ju is worth 2.6 trillion won. They are South Korea’s 11th and 12th richest people.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)