Introduction to NOAH Advisors - NOAH Conference

Bigpoint Transaction Case Study
NOAH Advisors identified the Bigpoint opportunity early on, and re-introduced the deal to Summit Partners and
TA Associates based on superior insight into the situation
and
April 2011
are jointly investing $350m to acquire a majority stake in
from
Exclusive Financial Advisor to
Summit Partners and TA Associates
Deal Team
Heiko Hubertz, Arthur Bastings, Simon Guild,
Nils Holger Henning, Philip Reisberger, Tobias
Reisberger, Michael Gutsmann, Jan Wergin
Scott Collins, Christian Strain, Vincent Lambert,
Nicolas Slim, Ronan Gouello
John Meeks, Morgan Seigler, Khaled Heliouli
Marco Rodzynek, Yoram Wijngaarde,
Jan Brandes
Overview of Bigpoint
• Bigpoint was founded in 2002 by Heiko Hubertz (co-CEO) in Hamburg and has become a globally leading
online gaming company, with over 185m registered users in over 150 countries, 250,000 daily
registrations, millions of paying users, and 1 million+ concurrent users
• Its 60 active browser games in 25 languages include core games such as Seafight and DarkOrbit, nextgeneration
3D games such Battlestar Galactica Online, and casual-social games such as Farmerama and
Zoomumba. A strong pipeline includes The Mummy and RamaCity
• Bigpoint’s games are free-to-play, with paid virtual items. Paying users spend an average of circa €20 ($29)
per month and purchase over a billion virtual items every day
• Bigpoint is one of the best-positioned online gaming platforms, in the sweet-spot of a market with several
structural growth dynamics (fast growing $15b+ online gaming market, the $2.5b+ free-to-play model
outgrowing the market) and better developer risk-return characteristics
• Bigpoint has built an industry-leading platform in terms of user analytics, virtual items sales, a diversified
portfolio of strong games in different segments, coupled with a strong pipeline
• The company’s strong growth track-record, industry-leading profit margins, and high-quality management
team made it a highly attractive investment opportunity for TA and Summit
Transaction Summary
• TA Associates and Summit Partners are jointly investing $350 million for a majority stake. Heiko Hubertz,
Bigpoint’s founder and co-chief executive, will retain his 30% stake
• Comcast Interactive Capital, GMT Communications and General Electric sell down their stakes. GMT and
GE will retain a minority stake. GMT and NBC Universal acquired a 70% stake in June ‘08 at a $110m
valuation. They have made a fivefold return on their investment
• Although Bigpoint is not raising new funds as part of the deal, the new partners will help it to expand
internationally, make acquisitions and develop software
• Completion is subject to regulatory approval and other standard conditions
NOAH Advisor’s Role
• Bigpoint has been a close relationship of NOAH Advisors for close to two years
• NOAH had intensively followed Bigpoint as a potential transaction opportunity and re-introduced the deal
to Summit Partners and TA Associates based on superior insight into the situation
• NOAH Advisors acted as exclusive M&A financial advisor to Summit and TA, bringing in-depth knowledge
of the online gaming sector, the company, and intelligence around the opportunity
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