(Reuters) — Tencent Holdings Ltd, China’s biggest social network and online entertainment firm, is nearing a deal to buy a majority stake in Supercell Oy, which will value the mobile game maker at more than $9 billion, a source familiar with the matter said.
Tencent plans to buy the stake in Supercell, the Finnish company behind the mobile game ‘Clash of Clans’, from Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp.
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The Japanese communications and media company had bought a 51 percent stake in the mobile games maker in 2013 for about $1.5 billion.
Tencent, which is in late-stage talks with SoftBank, is in discussions with several financial investors, including Hillhouse Capital Group, to join in the purchase as co-investors, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Tencent, Softbank and Supercell were not immediately available for a comment.
(Reporting by Arunima Banerjee in Bengaluru and Liana Baker in San Francisco; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)