Fenwick & West represented Helsinki, Finland-based Supercell Oy, the developer of mobile games including “Clash of Clans” and “Hay Day”, in its USD $1.53B strategic investment from SoftBank Corporation, one of the largest Internet and telecommunications companies in Japan, and Japanese gaming company GungHo Online Entertainment, Inc. (JASDAQ: 3765). Under the terms of the agreement, a special purpose company jointly established by SoftBank and GungHo in Finland will invest a total of USD $1.53 billion (approximately JPY 151.5 billion) in Supercell, and will hold 51% of Supercell’s outstanding voting stock. Following the transaction, Supercell will continue to operate independently and maintain its headquarters in Helsinki, Finland while leveraging SoftBank’s strategic resources, and will also become a subsidiary of SoftBank. The transaction is expected to close in late October or early November of 2013.
The Fenwick transaction team was led by corporate partner Mark Stevens and included corporate attorneys Greg Roussel, David Michaels, Matthew Stewart, Katherine Duncan and Scott Behar; technology transactions attorney Stephen Gillespie; executive compensation and employee benefits attorneys Scott Spector and Marshall Mort; and tax attorneys David Forst and Jay Cosel.
More information about Supercell’s strategic investment from SoftBank and GungHo is available through Supercell’s blog posting and SoftBank’s press release.