Sumo Group PLC Strategic Acquisition of PixelAnt Games (4342N)

TIDMSUMO

RNS Number : 4342N

Sumo Group PLC

01 February 2021

1 February 2021

Sumo Group plc

("Sumo Group" or the "Group")

STRATEGIC ACQUISITION OF PIXELANT GAMES

Presence in the thriving talent pool of Poland

Sumo Group, the award-winning provider of creative and development services to the video games and entertainment industries, announces the strategic acquisition of PixelAnt Games sp. z o. o. ("PixelAnt"), based in Wroclaw, creating an immediate presence for the Group and an established base for growth in Poland's booming video games development industry.

The video games industry is growing rapidly in Poland. PixelAnt, which was founded in July 2020, is well known to the Sumo Digital management with its team of 13 developers currently working entirely on Sumo Digital projects.

Following the acquisition, PixelAnt will sit alongside Sumo Digital's other nine studios and continue to operate under the strong leadership of current studio directors Pawel Rohleder and Adam Lason. With the support of the Sumo brand, the strategy is to expand the studio's headcount rapidly, accessing the growing pool of high-quality developers in the Polish market and focus on winning third party contracts, while continuing to work on Sumo Digital projects. The PixelAnt team will also work on Own-IP opportunities.

The Group has paid an initial cash consideration of GBP250,000 for PixelAnt. A further amount may be payable, in Sumo Group shares, depending on the EBITDA achieved in the two years to 31 March 2023.

The acquisition of PixelAnt takes Sumo Digital's studio count to ten and the Group's total to 13, across five countries.

Carl Cavers, Chief Executive Officer of Sumo Group, said:

"Increasing headcount is a key pillar of our growth strategy and accessing new pools of high-quality talent is vital to the successful execution of that strategy. I'm really pleased that Adam and Pawel can see the benefits of joining the Sumo family. Poland has been on our radar for some time and the acquisition of PixelAnt, who we know so well, is a great way for us to gain entry to this exciting market. On behalf of everyone at Sumo, I welcome the PixelAnt team to the Group and look forward to building a substantial presence in this thriving new territory."

Enquiries:

 
Sumo Group plc                             Via Belvedere Communications 
Carl Cavers, Chief Executive Officer 
David Wilton, Chief Financial Officer 
 
Zeus Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser 
 & Joint Broker) 
Nick Cowles / Richard Darlington / Andrew          Tel: [phone] 
 Jones                                                             1512 
Ben Robertson / John Goold                         Tel: [phone] 
                                                                   5000 
 
Investec (Joint Broker) 
David Flin / Bruce Garrow                          Tel: [phone] 
                                                                   5970 
 
Belvedere Communications Limited 
Cat Valentine                                     Tel: [phone] 
                                                                    078 
Keeley Clarke                                     Tel: [phone] 
                                                                    525 
Llew Angus                                        Tel: [phone] 
                                                                    147 
                                                s [e-mail] 
 

About Sumo Group plc

Sumo Group's businesses provide acclaimed development and design services to the video games and entertainment industries from studios in the UK, India, Canada and the US.

Sumo Digital, as the Group's primary business, is one of the UK's largest independent developers of AAA-rated video games, having studios in Sheffield, Newcastle, Nottingham, Leamington Spa, Warrington and Pune, India. The business has acquired three studios since IPO, which operate under their own names, BAFTA award-winning The Chinese Room in Brighton, Red Kite Games in Leeds and Lab42 in Leamington Spa. Sumo Digital provides turnkey and co-development solutions to a global blue-chip client base.

Atomhawk is a multi-award-winning visual design company, with studios in Newcastle and in Vancouver (Canada), servicing the games, film and visual effects industries.

Pipeworks is an innovative, well-established, and respected US video games developer based in Eugene, Oregon. It provides full development, co-development, and live operations to premier video game publishers and other partners.

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February 01, 2021 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)