Tencent‘s acquisition of Sumo Group is able to go ahead as planned after the UK High Court approved the deal.
As reported by Gamesindustry.biz, Sumo Group announced to investors today that the High Court of Justice in England and Wales allowed the acquisition on January 13. The order is due to be delivered to the Registrar of Companies later today.
Following the news, dealings in Sumo shares on the AIM (part of the London Stock Exchange) were suspended at 7.30AM (UK time). The admission to trade in these shares will be cancelled from 7AM tomorrow (January 18, UK time).
Sumo also announced that Ian Livingstone, Michael Sherwin and Andrea Dunstan are no longer non-executive directors for the group. The change comes into effect today.
Sumo Group comprises of Sumo Digital as well as 11 other studios. These include The Chinese Room, Red Kite Games, and Lab 42. Sumo Digital is best known for LittleBigPlanet 3, Crackdown 3, and Sackboy: A Big Adventure. Sumo Group also includes publishing arm Secret Mode, along with developers Auroch Digital.
The £919m takeover was announced last summer. However, there were concerns it wouldn’t happen. That’s because back in October, a US national security panel investigated the deal. The investigation was concluded a month later.
Tencent has been very busy lately. It’s one of the companies working on Avatar: Reckoning, a MMORPG connected to the Avatar movies.
It also recently acquired the team behind Back 4 Blood, Turtle Rock.
In other gaming news, Black Matter Games, developer of Hell Let Loose has explained how its acquisition by Team17 will affect things.
