King Digital Entertainment Plc prepares for an initial public offering, seeks a 7.6-billion-dollar value

King Digital Entertainment Plc, which was founded in 2003, and is the maker of “Candy Crush Saga”, “Pet Rescue Saga” and other popular smartphone games, announced in a filing with the Securities and Exchanges Commission that it would sell 15.5 million shares in its yet-to-come initial public offering for between 21 and 24 dollars a share.

Currently, the most popular game produced by the company is “Candy Crush Saga”, which generated about 78% of the companys income in 2013. Its revenue increased to 1.9 billion dollars last year. The profit rose from 7.8 million dollars in 2012 to 567.6 million dollars. The game, which requires from players to form rows of three jellied sweets, provides users with the opportunity to play for free, but players are also able to pay in order to speed up their progress. The virtual items offered by the game are purchased for about 1 dollar a piece.

The adjusted earnings of the company before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization are reported to have increased to 825 million dollars in 2013 in comparison to the earnings in 2011, which amounted to 4 million dollars.

King Digital Entertainment Plc also announced that it plans to raise about 530 million dollars in its initial public offering in the U.S. at the top end of the price range, valuing the company at almost 7.6 billion dollars. King Digital Entertainment Plc has applied to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol KING. The company is said to be planning to use the funds raised from the Initial Public Offering for working capital and purchases.

Apax Partners LLP, which is one of the owners of the company, is also the largest shareholder of King Digital Entertainment Plc with a stake that amounts to 48.2%. The venture capital firm Index Ventures is also one of Kings owners with a 8.3% stake. The shareholders of the company are said to be planning to sell a further 6.7 million shares. One third of the company is held and controlled by Kings executives.