Animoca (Outblaze Ventures) completes sale of controlling interest in Star Girl series to Crosby Cap
Transaction values Star Girl series at approx. USD 30 million
Hong Kong, 16 October 2014 – Animoca (Outblaze Ventures Holdings Limited), a smartphone games developer and publisher based in Hong Kong, announced it has completed the sale of seventy percent of its interests in its subsidiary Complete Star Limited to Crosby Capital Limited (Hong Kong stock code 8088) (“Crosby”). Complete Star is the owner of the smartphone, tablet and personal computer applications of the award-winning Star Girl game series. The consideration for the acquisition is USD 9.66 million (subject to adjustments) in cash and stock, with additional performance-based bonuses that could raise the deal up to approximately USD 21 million. Factoring in the remaining thirty percent stake owned by Animoca, this transaction values the Star Girl series at approximately USD 30 million.
Star Girl is a series of fashion role-playing games (RPG) in which players create a virtual female celebrity and determine her career, appearance and social life while interacting with the game world and other players. The Star Girl series includes Star Girl: Beauty Queen, Star Girl: Colors of Spring, Star Girl: Moda Italia, Star Girl: Valentine Hearts, Star Girl: Spooky Styles, and others. Star Girl games are among the relatively few mobile titles that target female users, offering a wide selection of in-game fashion apparel and accessories for purchase as virtual items for the player’s avatar.
Animoca will continue to service the business and enhance Star Girl games as a thirty percent shareholder of the joint venture. Crosby brings to the partnership its China connections and broad industry expertise, with the aim to create additional value for the game in the celebrity and fashion role-playing game sector as well as to develop opportunities in the O2O (Online-to-Offline) space.
Mr. Kelvin Wu, Chief Executive Officer of Crosby said: “Star Girl is one of the best mobile properties targeting female users, and we believe it will let our Group tap into an expanding yet under-exploited market. We also believe that the smartphone, tablet and personal computer applications of the Star Girl games have the potential to synergize with other products targeting similar users, such as toys and fashion items, allowing our Group to steer towards the development of an innovative online-to-offline platform.”
David Kim, Chief Executive Officer of Animoca, commented: “This is an exciting milestone for Animoca and potentially relevant to the wider mobile gaming industry, because we’re exploring a business model that isn’t very common in our sector. Our joint venture with Crosby will allow us to better develop and publish the Star Girl series, which is advantageous not only for both companies, but also for the millions of users who will benefit from extended product range and lifetime with minimal service disruption.”
The games in the Star Girl series are available worldwide for Android and iOS devices. Download them free of charge on Google Play and Apple’s iTunes App Store.
About Animoca (Outblaze Ventures Holdings Ltd.) Animoca (Outblaze Ventures Holdings Ltd.) is a leading developer and publisher of mobile games and edutainment apps for global audiences. The company has released more than 400 apps across multiple platforms, with more than 220 million game downloads since launch in 2011, establishing the company among the top 50 global mobile game developers, according to industry pundit PocketGamer. Animoca’s casual games have become popular with audiences throughout the world, earning high acclaim from gamers and reviewers. In 2014, Animoca spun off several of its products into a new company called Animoca Brands Corporation, which is in the process of listing on the Australian Securities Exchange. Animoca also publishes edutainment apps under its Baby Cortex label. For more information, visit www.animoca.com.
About Crosby Capital Limited Crosby Capital Limited is an independent asset management and strategic investment company listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. It has been investing in the lifestyle, entertainment and internet-related sectors, including, but not limited to, O2O lifestyle and e-commerce businesses by way of acquisitions and collaborations. It targets to build an integrated O2O business ecology in the entertainment and lifestyle sector.
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