Entertainment industry tech group raises £12.5m to fund acquisition in Japan
Sheffield-based ZOO Digital Group, has completed an oversubscribed pacing of £12.5m to fully fund the proposed acquisition of one of the company’s Japan-based partners.
The placing enables the group to acquire a media localisation subsidiary of a leading Japanese technology company.
ZOO Digital, which provides cloud-based localisation and media services to the global entertainment industry, conducted the placing through the issue and allotment of 7,812,500 new ordinary shares of £0.01 each in the company with certain existing and new institutional and other investors at a price of 160 pence per placing share.
The placing shares represent 8.7% of the issued share capital of the business prior to the placing.
Stuart Green, chief executive officer of ZOO, said: “The proposed acquisition of our trusted partner in Japan is highly complementary to our existing activities and will cement our position as a leading provider of media localisation services across South East Asia.
“It brings a high quality team together alongside strong relationships with major clients. Importantly, the acquisition adds specialist capability in Japanese language titles and extends our capacity in another fast-growing market.
“This is the next step in our proven strategy to grow a global connected network through acquisitions and partnerships in markets strategically aligned with our customers.
“As demonstrated by the success of our Indian and South Korean businesses, regional hubs add significant strategic value to the Group by providing access to specific expertise and local talent.”
ZOO Digital has also today published a trading update, reporting that its revenues for the year ended 31 March 2023 are expected to be at least $90m/£72.1m (FY22: $70.4m/£56.4m), an increase of at least 28% of which 25% is organic.
EBITDA (adjusted for share-based payments) is expected to be at least $12m/£9.6m (FY22: $8.3m/£6.7m), an increase of at least 44%.
