Leyou seems to be no longer connected to SNK
Recent reports began to circulate suggesting that Sony, through a potential new commercial acquisition, could end ownership of SNK, but that doesn’t seem to be the case after all.
Leyou Technologies, the Chinese corporation for which Sony is weighing an offer, is reportedly not the parent company of SNK, though the circumstances surrounding its connections are somewhat confusing.
Much of the bizarre tangle of this business seems to boil down to Leyou almost buying SNK’s parent company, but business plans changed course.
In March 2015, Leyou Technologies announced that they would sign a “term sheet” agreement with Ledo Millennium for an acquisition agreement, while at the same time Ledo was looking to buy SNK Playmore.
The deal for Ledo to buy the majority of SNK’s shares was approved on August 6, 2015 to seal the deal. However, shortly afterwards a monkey wrench was thrown at the rest of the original plan.
On August 10, Leyou announced that the company would terminate its term sheet agreement with Ledo Millennium and BZ Entertainment Co. (Ledo’s parent company at the time), thus breaking their trade association, while many had been reporting to Ledo. as a Leyou subsidiary at the time of the SNK agreement.
Click the images for Leyou’s original business deal posted by NuraYagami
Currently, the ownership of Ledo Millennium is linked to 37Games, another Chinese company that is listed as the second largest mobile game developer / publisher in the country behind Tencent.
What does this mean for SNK if Sony were to buy Leyou? Probably nothing, as there is actually nothing linking the two companies despite their previous connection.
Click on the images for the Leyou partnership termination announcement posted by NuraYagami
However, Sony would end up getting some great gear and potential properties, as Leyou owns the developers Digital Extremes and Splash Damage themselves along with free shooter Warframe and Athlon Games, who released the latest Samurai Shodown, which likely generated some confusion.
For now, the owner of PlayStation’s bid to take over Leyou Technologies is still up in the air, but there is little reason to believe that SNK will become a developer of its own any time soon.
Submitted by drxhunter.
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