Razer eyes SE Asia expansion with $61 million MOL Global buyout
The deal will combine zGold and MOLPoints, "creating one of the world's largest virtual credits platforms for gamers"
Razer has agreed to buy the 65.1% of the shares in MOL Global Inc., a payment platform focused on the Southeast Asian market, for $61 million.
MOL Global had previously sold 34.9% of its shares to Razer, and this new deal will raise that stake to 100%, making MOL a wholly-owned subsidiary. The deal is worth $61 million, and it has already been agreed by enough of Razer's major shareholders to be approved.
Razer's motivations for the deal are two-fold: principally, it allows the company to combine its own zGold virtual currency business with MOL Global's MOLPoints virtual currency business, "creating one of the world's largest virtual credits platforms for gamers under a single entity."
The second part is Southeast Asia itself, which Razer described as having, "one of the fastest GDP growth and youngest demographics in the world."
More than $1.1 billion in payment value was made through MOL Global's "offline-to-online" e-payment system in 2017. It has a network of around one million offline payment points - which, "already makes it the largest virtual credits platform for gamers in the region" - and counts the PlayStation Store, Nexon, Wargaming and Facebook Gameroom among its clients.
Razer has pledged to "ramp up" its investment in Southeast Asia, describing this acquisition deal as, "the first of many to come."
"Given that MOL Global already runs one of the largest e-payments networks in Southeast Asia, the integration of MOL Global's businesses represents an exciting new business segment with boundless potential that Razer can extend into," said Min-Liang Tan, co-founder and CEO of Razer, in a statement.
"Over and above, we will be able to leverage on MOL Global's leading technologies, as well as its massive network of content, customers and partners built over 17 years, and extend our existing businesses by capturing the fast-growing Southeast Asia region for Razer."
Razer, which has been focused on diversifying its business in recent years, raised $500 million through an IPO in Hong Kong last year.