Candy Crush Saga’s Irish maker files for $500m IPO

Mobile gamemaker King Digital Entertainment, best known for the hit puzzle game Candy Crush Saga , said it plans to raise up to $500 million in an initial public offering.

The Irish incorporated company has filed for an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The company will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol King.

King said it would raise up to $500 million in the listing, but the amount a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees and the final size of the IPO could be different.

The IPO prospectus offered a first glimpse into King’s money-making machine, which generated $1.9 billion in revenues last year, or $5 million a day. It posted adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of $825 million in the year, up from $28.5 million in 2012.

The IPO filing also reveals the Candy Crush effect in detail: in 2012 the company's revenues were $164.4 million, but in 2013 that figures rose to $1.88 billion.

In December 2013, King's games averaged 128 million daily active users, 93 million of which were playing Candy Crush Saga . The addictive Facebook and iPhone gamegame, which involves moving candies to make a line of three in the same colour, was the top downloaded free app of 2013, and the year's top revenue-grossing app. It has been downloaded more than 500 million times since its launch in 2012.

While the company lists its address in Dublin on the IPO filing, it has no operations here. It was originally incorporated in the UK, but a parent holding company was incorporated in Malta and then Ireland.

The company is mainly based in Stockholm and London, and employs 665 people, meaning the average revenue per employee was $2.8 million last year.

An initial public offering could value King at $5 billion to $7 billion, Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles, said. Mr Pachter based his estimate on sales figures from company executives.

The company made a profit of about $568 million last year.

Candy Crush Saga makes almost $800,000 a day according to data compiled by Thinkgaming.com.

Founded in 2003, King has been profitable since 2005 and has not had a funding round since September of that year, when it raised €34 million from Apax and Index Ventures. Apax is currently King's biggest shareholder with 48.2 per cent of the equity of the company. JPMorgan Chase, Credit Suisse and Barclays are among the banks managing the sale.

Additional reporting: Reuters