Thunderful Group intends to go public to raise cash for further acquisitions

Nordic development and publishing group Thunderful is preparing to go public on the NASDAQ First North Premier Growth Market. 

The company announced its intention to launch an initial public offering a day after it purchased Swedish developer Station Interactive. 

The offering itself would consist of existing shares in Thunderful and new shares issued by the company, and is expected to raise around SEK 750 million ($86.9 million) before the deduction of transaction costs. 

The company has confirmed that a number of parties have expressed interest in acquiring shares "for an amount of not more than SEK 600 million ($69.5 million) on a valuation of up to approximately SEK 3.4 billion ($394.1 million) ."

Thunderful said it would use those proceeds to finance more acquisitions within its Thunderful Games segment, allowing it to ramp up game development while also repaying current shareholder loans and credit debt. 

"In recent years, we have worked hard to establish a structure with synergies within the group. Looking ahead, we will use our strong cash flows for investments within development and publishing of games as well as new acquisitions," said Thunderful Group chief exec, Brjann Sigurgeirsson. 

"We see a high growth rate in the global gaming industry and the gaming share of the population is expected to continue to grow. It now feels exciting to be able to offer new shareholders opportunities to be part of our continued journey."