Quatrro acquires UK-based gaming company Babel
SOURCE: Business Standard
DATE: July 1st, 2008
Mohit Soapbox:
Quatrro continues to grow inorganically and buy firms out. I am still struggling to see the business model for the firm and how it differentiates from the other players in the market. Is the model a blank check model and to lower operating cost across all it’s companies or to create specialized niches all running independently.
ARTICLE
Raman Roy’s Quatrro BPO Solutions has acquired UK-based Babel Media — provider of specialist services to the online games and interactive entertainment industry.
This is Quatrro’s sixth acquisition and industry experts peg the deal to be in the range of $25-30 million (Rs. 110-130 crore).
“This is our biggest acquisition in terms of profitability, topline and bottom line and I see this move as an intergral part of Quatrro’s agenda of ‘Going Behind the Existing’ and building strategically important businesses in undeserved and uncontested market spaces. With this acquisition, we have bought India into the gaming testing and localisation space,” said Raman Roy.
A Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ report estimates the gaming industry to grow 30-40 per cent by another $27 billion (Rs. 117,180 crore) to $68 billion (Rs. 295,120 crore) by 2012.
The aquisition has been funded through both debt and equity and also by D E Shaw that has a small share in Quatrro.
With a target of “triple digit revenue”, Quatrro will do testing and localisation of games for which the profiling of trainers is under process.
Babel employs over 500 staff and has offices in Brighton, Los Angeles, Montreal and New Delhi and trainers will be picked from the staff to localise the training for testing of games.
As part of the transaction, Algy Williams, Babel’s co-founder will take on the role of a non executive Director.
Apart from this acquisition, Quatrro is also planning a tie up with a US-based company which will be finalised soon.
The company is also evaluating 11 new verticals in India and will expand gaming in Eastern Europe.
Related Posts
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Leave a Reply