The shareholders of Rovio, the developer of the Angry Birds franchise, have overwhelmingly accepted Sega’s offer to acquire the company, permitting the transaction to proceed, the Finnish company announced Thursday.
Rovio stated in a press release that 96.3% of its shareholders had accepted the offer, which values the company at more than $700 million.
The offer was contingent on acceptance rates exceeding ninety percent.
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Rovio stated, “As the minimum acceptance condition and all other conditions to complete the offer have been met, the offeror will complete the offer according to its terms and conditions.”
The deal signals the end of the Finnish mobile game industry’s independence, which was established when Rovio released its slingshot-bird game more than a decade ago.
The acquisition is part of Sega’s “long-term goal” of expanding into the mobile gaming market, according to Sega CEO Haruki Satomi, who announced the deal in April.
After its release in 2009, Angry Birds became one of the most popular mobile games ever, with a variety of birds flying through the air to collide into structures and destroy armies of green pigs.
In 2016, Sony Entertainment’s “Angry Birds” film was a massive triumph, grossing 350 million dollars worldwide.
Rovio also supervises the publication of children’s books about the famous birds in a dozen languages and manages Angry Birds theme parks in multiple countries.
However, it has continued to rely significantly on its flagship game and has struggled to develop another similar hit.
The company, which employed more than 500 individuals in 2022, reported revenue of 317.7 million euros and an adjusted net profit of 31.4 million euros.
Sega, a prominent video game company in the 1980s and 1990s, fell into decline after failing to compete with Japanese rivals Nintendo and Sony PlayStation.
The transaction is one of several recent high-profile acquisitions in the gaming industry, as companies compete for a piece of a multibillion-dollar market.
