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GDC 2019 - Keywords has around $114m in the bank for acquisitions

GDC 2019 - Keywords has around $114m in the bank for acquisitions

Games services and development giant Keywords has quite a tidy amount of cash earmarked for buying more companies.

Speaking to PCGamesInsider.biz, CEO Andrew Day says that the firm has in the region of $114m in the bank for future acquisitions.

The Keywords boss says it isn't looking to splash all this cash in the near future - unless something special comes along - saying he prefers smaller deals.

"We have around €100m ($114m), something like that," he said.

"We finished the year with no debt - neutral; no cash, no debt - but with €105m ($120m) banking facility which is there for acquisitions. We're very cash generative, so we convert a high percentage of our profits to cash. Last year we made €38m ($43.4m) in profit. That cash generation machine, plus the banking facility, gives us plenty of headroom of acquisitions. I don't think we're going to be spending €100m ($114m) this year unless we find something nice and chunky, but for the kind of sweet-spot acquisitions we do, which are $5m to $10m to $20m range, we'll have plenty of firepower for those."

You can read more from Day in our upcoming interview about Keywords' strategy and what you need to know about doing an IPO 


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.