M&A Deal Summary

Keywords Studios Acquires Sotera Defense Solutions

On March 8, 2017, Keywords Studios acquired defense company Sotera Defense Solutions from Ares Private Equity Group for 235M USD

Acquisition Highlights
  • This is Keywords Studios’ 1st transaction in the Defense sector.
  • This is Keywords Studios’ largest (disclosed) transaction.
  • This is Keywords Studios’ 2nd transaction in the United States.
  • This is Keywords Studios’ 1st transaction in Virginia.

M&A Deal Summary
Date 2017-03-08
Target Sotera Defense Solutions
Sector Defense
Buyer(s) Keywords Studios
Sellers(s) Ares Private Equity Group
Deal Type Add-on Acquisition
Deal Value 235M USD
Advisor(s) Macquarie Capital
Sagent Advisors LLC (Financial)
Proskauer Rose LLP (Legal)

Target

Sotera Defense Solutions

Herndon, Virginia, United States
Sotera Defense Solutions, Inc. is a provider of technology-based systems, solutions, and services for national security agencies and programs of the U.S.

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Buyer(S) 1

Buyer

Keywords Studios

Dublin, Ireland
Category Company
Founded 1998
Sector Digital Media
Revenue 780M EUR (2023)
DESCRIPTION

Keywords Studios is an international technical services provider to the global video games industry. The company provides integrated art creation, localization, testing, audio, and customer care services across 50 languages and 14 game platforms to a blue-chip client base in more than 15 countries. It has a strong market position, providing services to 20 of the top 25 most prominent game companies, including Microsoft, Supercell, King, Bandai Namco, Sony, Konami, Electronic Arts, 2K, and Square Enix. Recent titles worked on include Tom Clancy's The Division, Halo 5: Guardians, Batman: Arkham Knight, Street Fighter V, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Clash Royale, and Mobile Strike. Keywords Studios was founded in 1998 and is based in Dublin, Ireland.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 17 of 40
Sector (Defense) 1 of 1
Type (Add-on Acquisition) 16 of 35
State (Virginia) 1 of 1
Country (United States) 2 of 7
Year (2017) 2 of 13
Size (of disclosed) 1 of 23
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2017-02-17 Spov

London, United Kingdom

Spov Ltd. is a provider of creative development, cinematics, UI, visual effects and motion graphics services to the video game and film markets. Founded in 2007 by Allen Leitch, Spov maintains a small team of creatives in London and manages a network of highly experienced designers, animators, film makers and artists to produce intricate footage for use in video games, film and TV. The company has worked on titles that include Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Watch Dogs, The Division, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare; Batman: Arkham Knight and Marvel's Doctor Strange.

Buy £1M
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2017-05-10 XLOC

Raleigh, North Carolina, United States

XLOC has developed the major web-based integrated globalization content management system for videogames (XLOC), supported by consulting and customisation services. Its proprietary software application can be integrated with any games development platform and enables game developers and publishers to more efficiently manage and automate the complex process of localising games content across multiple languages and platforms for simultaneous global launches and continuous publishing.

Buy $900K

Seller(S) 1

SELLER

Ares Private Equity Group

Los Angeles, California, United States

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor

Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 2003
PE ASSETS 20.0B USD
Size Mega
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

Ares Private Equity Group is the private equity arm of Ares Management, a global alternative asset manager. The Ares Private Equity Group specializes in opportunistic majority/shared control investments in under-capitalized middle-market companies. Ares looks for companies with strong franchises and attractive growth opportunities. The Group prefers to be the lead investor and will invest across the capital structure, including common equity, preferred equity, convertible equity/debt and senior debt. Areas of interest include business services, defense, healthcare, manufacturing, industrial, energy and consumer products and services. Ares Private Equity Group was formed in 2003 and is based in Los Angeles, California.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 24 of 43
Sector (Defense) 1 of 1
Type (Add-on Acquisition) 5 of 11
State (Virginia) 1 of 1
Country (United States) 22 of 39
Year (2017) 1 of 4
Size (of disclosed) 6 of 9
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2017-02-28 Birdsboro Power

Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States

Birdsboro Power, a brownfield 488-MW natural gas-fired combined-cycle generation facility located in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The project will feature the GE 7HA.02 gas turbine and a GE steam turbine, and will remediate and redevelop a site that was once home to a manufacturing facility. Birdsboro has retained Kiewit as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor, and it is expected that the project will create hundreds of jobs during construction and approximately 20 jobs on-site after completion.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2017-05-09 DC380

Harlow, United Kingdom

DC380 is a 389,444-square-foot distribution warehouse with office space that is strategically located in an established industrial and trade area of Harlow in the south east of England between London and Stansted Airport. The property is currently leased to Industrial Tool Supplies, one of the UK’s largest independent suppliers of power tools, and Wincanton, the largest British logistics service provider.DC380 is based in Harlow, United Kingdom.

Buy -
Mergr

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