Investment Company Wants to buy Service Provider Keywords Studios

Swedish investment company EQT Private Equity has announced plans to acquire Keyword Studios through a new subsidiary. The deal values Keywords, which also has two companies in Germany, at around £2.2 billion, or about €2.6 billion.

It would be the next billion-dollar deal in the games industry, but without any real consolidation. This is because the forthcoming takeover of Keywords Studios is not being bought by another games company, but by the Swedish investment company EQT. EQT is not buying Keywords Studios directly, but through a newly formed subsidiary called Houting UK.

Keywords' shareholders have yet to approve the deal. In the mandatory announcement to the London Stock Exchange, management considers the terms of the deal to be "fair". Robey Warshaw and Deutsche Numis, a UK subsidiary of Deutsche Bank, acted as advisers.

The offer values Keyword Studios at a market capitalisation of approximately £2.2 billion, or approximately €2.6 billion at current exchange rates. Keyword Studios is an international games and entertainment services company. It claims to work with almost every major company in the industry in one way or another. Originally specialising in localisation, the company has built up an extensive portfolio of services since its IPO. In 2023, Keywords reported that it had 70 studios in 26 countries. Two subsidiaries, Forgotten Empires and TV+Synchron Berlin, are based in Germany.

In 2023, Keywords Studios generated sales of EUR 780 million and EBITDA of EUR 109 million. The company employed an average of 12,340 people across all studios and locations in 2023.