China group in $4.4 bn swoop for US Caesar's casino game unit

A Chinese consortium linked to Alibaba founder Jack Ma will spend $4.4 billion to buy a developer of casino-style game apps from a US firm, one of its member companies said Monday.

The 11-strong private equity consortium has agreed to buy the Playtika unit, which makes games including "Slotomania", from Caesar Interactive Entertainment (CIE).

The all-cash swoop highlights the growing number of Chinese companies snapping up overseas entertainment firms to feed a massive market for mobile content.

Apart from Yunfeng Capital which was co-founded by Ma, the 11 investors include Giant Investment (HK) Ltd, an affiliate of major gaming firm Shanghai Giant Network.

They plan to raise a total of $4.5 billion for the deal and related costs, Giant’s unit Chongqing New Century Cruise Co. said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Monday.

Robert Antokol, CEO of Israel-based Playtika which was acquired by CIE in 2011, said in a statement released by the US firm that the deal would provide "access to large and rapidly growing emerging markets".

Gambling is illegal in China and the deal will not include CIE’s real-money online gambling businesses, it said. Instead it involves playing with virtual currency which cannot be converted.

Playtika will continue to run independently. The acquisition is expected to be completed this year, it added.

China has more smartphone users than any other country and mobile games are popular.

Chinese Internet giant Tencent in June announced it had agreed to buy Finnish game-maker Supercell Oy, creator of "Clash of Clans", from Japanese firm SoftBank for $8.6 billion.

Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group in January bought Hollywood studio Legendary Entertainment in a $3.5 billion deal, after purchasing US cinema chain AMC Entertainment for $2.6 billion.