Asmodee Group plans on acquiring more board game companies. The global board game publisher's future was uncertain after its spin-off from Embracer Group and being saddled with considerable debt. But thanks to recent events, their new strategy is mostly unchanged from their old one.
Asmodee Group's Future Acquisition Plans
According to its Capital Markets Day presentation, Asmodee Group plans to restart its strategy of buying smaller board game publishers and distributors following their separation from Embracer Group.
This strategy is central to how the company has become one of the largest tabletop companies in the business. The broad group of companies under Asmodee's ownership includes Z-Man Games, Fantasy Flight Games, and Catan Studios.
In the presentation, Asmodee Group's CEO, Thomas Koegler, states they have a pipeline of more than 20 acquisition opportunites. Those opportunities include social and party game studios across the US and EU, and local distribution players to help strengthen their position in established companies.
According to Koegler, the acquisition targets being monitored are companies Asmodee knows well. Most of them are business partners the company interacts with on a daily basis spread across distribution and publishing. None of these companies were explicitly named.
Asmodee Group returning to this strategy seemed unlikely due to their recent circumstances. Those circumstances include being bought by Embracer Group in 2021. This was part of a string of purchases by Embracer, including Space Marine 2 developer Saber Interactive and The Lord of the Rings IP.
This came to an end when one of Embracer Group's deals fell through and they were saddled with $1.45 billion in debt. This lead to layoffs, selling studios, spinning off Asmodee Group and saddling them with €900 million in debt.
That debt is less daunting thanks to an investment by Embracer. As part of the proceeds of selling mobile game developer Easybrain, Embracer is investing €400m into Asmodee Group. €300 million will go towards the debt, the €100 million remainder will go to strengthening their balance sheet ahead of their company listing, allowing them to continue their M&A business strategy.
