Having suspended its shares and been saved by private equity firm OpCapita in 2012, GAME is seeking a new stock market listing – valuing the company at £400 million.
The video games retailer, which has operations in the UK and Spain, is rebranding to GAME Digital – combining its physical store presence, e-commerce and m-commerce offerings to form an omni-channel approach.
Back in March 2012, financial trouble saw the company appoint an administrator and the conclusion was made that there was no value left in the company. Its offerings were not able to compete with the price of games available through online retailers such as Amazon.
Private equity firm OpCapita, which specialises in turnaround investments in the retail, consumer and leisure sectors, then stepped in and bought the company through Baker Acquisitions. The 333 UK shops which had remained open during Game’s period of administration were bought.
GAME now intends to secure a slot on the premium listing segment where it will seek to grow out its current base of 560 locations. The business claims to have a 33 per cent share of the new video game content, hardware and accessories market, by revenue, in the UK – and 35 per cent in Spain.
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Martyn Gibbs, chief executive of GAME Digital, comments, ‘A public listing will support our long-term strategy as we develop our digital offering in all our channels.
‘GAME’s stores, online and mobile channels are an influential and cost-effective route to market for our supplier partners. We have had tremendous support from the industry since starting our new company and we now offer our customers significant benefits in terms of store experience, access to our trained and knowledgeable store teams, access to digital content, and widening range of products.’
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According to statistics from OC&C, the UK and Spanish video game market is expected to grow to £5.8 billion by 2016, at a compound annual growth rate of 7.6 per cent. Digital content growth in the UK and Spain is said to represent GAME’s biggest opportunity for progress.
Through the listing on the London Stock Exchange, new shares will be issued by GAME as well as a sale of the existing shares by Duodi Investments. The company expects to secure net proceeds of £12 million, which will be used for general purposes such as working capital.
