The Chinese technological giant Tencent is exploring a possible acquisition of Nexon, the South Korean games developer behind the successful title Dungeon and fighterBloomberg reports. Nexon is strongly invested in web 3 games, including the ambitious MaplesTory franchise.
According to the reports, the firm has approached the family of the late founder of Nexon Kim Jung-Ju, who controls a 44.4% participation in Nexon through the Holding NxC Corp company, to discuss a possible acquisition.
The discussions are still preliminary, and there is no guarantee that it will result in an agreement, according to the report, citing sources close to the matter.
If you succeed, Tencent would acquire a company with a market capitalization of $ 16.6 billion, a movement that could rekindle its ambitions in the M&A of the global games after a deceleration caused by Chinese regulatory repressions in 2020.
The agreement could help Tencent ensure long -term control over popular intellectual property and give it a firmer position in the lucrative southern Korean games market.
But any agreement would be complicated.
The Kim family inherited control after the founder’s death in 2022 and since then has delivered actions to the Korean government to cover inheritance taxes. The government has not been able to download its participation.
Tencent previously tried to buy Nexon in 2019, but the conversations collapsed about prices. This new attempt follows the investment of $ 1.3 billion of Tencent in a new Ubisoft unit and a 10% participation in K-Pop SM SM Entertainment.
The Chinese technological giant is also expanding in the Blockchain space, announcing earlier this year that has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop a set of Blockchain API services with Ankr.
Read more: The South Korean Game Giant Nexon to use polygon for the popular universe of Maplestory
