A familiar pair of buyers

Unity Software has held talks to be acquired by a consortium including private equity firm Silver Lake and Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, Reuters reported on 5 November. The buyers discussed a valuation of about $25 billion for the company behind the Unity game engine, before its latest earnings lifted its market value to roughly $21.5 billion.

Unity has been working with an investment bank to weigh its options since the approach in recent weeks, the report said. No deal is certain, and the plan and terms could still change. Unity declined to comment, while Silver Lake and the PIF did not immediately respond. Shares rose about 4% in extended trading after the report.

The EA playbook, repeated

The same investors know this route well. Silver Lake and the PIF were part of the consortium that took Electronic Arts private in a $55 billion deal that closed in August, one of the largest leveraged buyouts ever. A Unity deal would take the same form, with debt raised against the company and repaid from operating profit.

Silver Lake already owns about 8% of Unity after investing up to $400 million in 2017, and its co-chief executive Egon Durban sits on Unity's board, a role that would normally see him step aside from sale talks.

Strong results behind the approach

The approach came as Unity reported third-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates. Revenue rose 32% to $622.1 million, and the company posted its first quarterly profit on a generally accepted accounting basis since going public in September 2020.

Unity's engine powers thousands of mobile, console and PC games, and its technology is increasingly used in cars, film and architecture.

[Source: Reuters (via SRN News)](https://srnnews.com/exclusive-silver-lake-pif-have-held-recent-talks-to-buy-gaming-software-provider-unity-sources-say/) | [Source: Game Developer](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/silver-lake-and-the-saudi-arabia-pif-hold-talks-with-unity-to-explore-acquisition)