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Foreign investment in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Overseas Investment Office - May 2021 Decision

Gaming

MTG Gaming AB (Sweden 47.5%; United States 16.6%; Luxembourg 8.2%; United Kingdom 6.8%; Finland 5.5%; Norway 5%; Various 10.4%) got OIO approval to buy Ninja Kiwi Ltd (NZ 100%) for $366,600,000. To quote the OIO: "The Applicant is a digital entertainment company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Both the Applicant and the Vendor are involved in the gaming industry. The Applicant is acquiring up to 100% of the shares in the Vendor's company. The Applicant intends to assist the Vendor scale its business by leveraging its assets and capabilities. The Applicant has satisfied the investor test criterion".

Ninja Kiwi has 70 staff in Auckland and Scotland. Interestingly, NZ media reports put the purchase price at $100m-$150m less than that stated in the OIO Decision. It follows a recent pattern of NZ gaming businesses being bought by overseas companies. For example, in 2018, Chinese company Tencent paid at least $100m to buy Kiwi company Grinding Gears.

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