Hong Kong IPO could help gaming gear maker fund development of a mobile device aimed at its consumer base of hardcore gamers.TERADAT SANTIVIVUT/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Razer Inc. is shooting for a Hong Kong initial public offering that could value the gaming-gear maker at as much as $5-billion (U.S.) and help fund development of its own mobile phone, people familiar with the matter said.
The company – which makes accessories from mice to laptops that bear a green tri-headed snake – is developing a mobile device tailored for its consumer base of hardcore gamers, according to the sources. Razer's share sale, which will give it ample ammunition to develop new gadgets, will seek to value the company at $3-billion to $5-billion, the people said, asking not to be identified talking about internal plans. It aims to list around October, the sources said.
Razer, which sells products online and in chains such as Best Buy across the United States, has said it wants to use Hong Kong as a beachhead from which to accelerate its expansion into China's $25-billion gaming market. The company now sells its product there via e-commerce giants JD.com Inc. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., co-founder Tan Min-Liang said in an interview in June. It's sold $1-billion worth of product globally in the past three years, Mr. Tan added.
Razer's IPO would be one of the largest tech debuts in the Asian financial centre in years. The company, co-founded in 2005 by Singapore-born Mr. Tan, considered a U.S. IPO as far back as 2014, people with knowledge of the matter said at the time. In October the same year, the company was valued at $1.5-billion, according to data from researcher CB Insights. The company declined to comment on its IPO plans in an e-mail on Wednesday.
The company, whose backers include Intel Corp. and a unit of Temasek Holdings Pte., counts gaming hardware as its main source of revenue, but is also developing a virtual currency called zGold and building up its community.
The global video games industry is expected to grow by about 25 per cent to $146-billion in 2020 from an estimated $117-billion this year, according to data from Euromonitor International. The Asia-Pacific market, however, is slated to expand by a much faster 39 per cent to $65.3-billion over the same period, driven by 40-per-cent growth in gaming software alone, the data show. The comparable hardware market is expected to expand 22 per cent.