Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Nazara Technologies to acquire majority 55% stake in ad tech firm Datawrkz

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Nazara Technologies Limited, an India based diversified gaming and sports media company, on Tuesday confirmed that it has entered in an agreement to acquire a controlling 55% stake in programmatic advertising and monetization company Datawrkz. Datawrkz is a global advertising technology firm focused on accelerating user and revenue growth for clients through highly optimized digital advertising.  

Big Bull of the Indian stock market Jhunjhunwala holds 32,94,310 shares aggregating to 10.8% stake in the gaming and tech company, showed BSE September 2021 shareholding pattern. Corporate filings regarding December shareholding patterns were yet to be updated by the company. As per Trendlyne, the value of shares held by the ace investor is worth Rs 798.3 crore as on January 18, 2022.  

At 12 pm, shares of Nazara Technologies were trading with nearly 1 per cent loss to Rs 2429.50 per share on the BSE.  

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“We, at Nazara, are looking to build strong gaming ad tech offerings globally with the partnership with Datawrkz. We strongly believe that growth of gaming focused ad tech will be exponential in the coming decade across geographies with the growth of gamers and game publishers across freemium, web3.0 and skill based real money gaming,” said Nazara Technologies CEO Manish Agarwal.  

Meanwhile, as per regulatory filing by Nazara Technologies, the Jhunjhunwala-backed gaming company will acquire a 33% stake (Rs 60 crore payable of which Rs 35 crores is partly payable in cash and the balance consideration of Rs 25 crore will be paid either in cash or swap of shares) in the first tranche by April 22. Nazara reserves an option to acquire an additional 22% in the second tranche that is expected to close in Q4 FY23. 

“We had started this company with a vision to disrupt the digital advertising space. Datawrkz was already on a fast track to achieve our objective with rapid growth and satisfied clients around the world. Through our partnership with Nazara, I see our pace accelerating further,” said Datawrkz founder Senthil Govindan.