Razer, a renowned manufacturer of computer hardware, is targeting an initial public offering (“IPO”) that could see the company valued as high as $5 billion (£3.8bn), Bloomberg reports.
The share sale is proposed for around October time and will provide finance for continued development of new hardware. The valuation the company is looking for is said to be between $3-5 billion.
The reason behind the IPO in Hong Kong is Razer’s ambitious plans to accelerate growth in the huge Chinese gaming market. The company has already entered the market through partnerships with JD.com Inc. and Alibaba, Bloomberg reports. Furthermore, Razer has tested the water in Hong Kong with an esports concept store opened last month.
Razer already has a firm footprint in esports, with sponsorship of well over ten teams — all based in the West. Arguably the most noticeable are SK Telecom T1 — the greatest League of Legends team of all time and SK Gaming, the Brazilian Counter-Strike squad making their claim to be considered amongst the best ever in CS:GO. Other notable names include Team Liquid and Afreeca Freecs. As a result of sponsorships, Razer products are used by over 300 competitive players and over $4 million was won in prize money last year by them alone.
Razer, who has already launched mobile products such as the Razer Edge tablet and Razer Nabu X. The company is said to be continuing development of a mobile device tailored for gamers as they look to expand an already impressive product portfolio.
Esports Insider says: A serious valuation for a serious company. We’ll be excited to see Razer’s continued growth and with such hefty (potential) investment there could well be some amazing products in the pipeline.
