UK social games developer to launch American IPO?

According to reports in the UK newspaper The Telegraph Thursday, there may soon be a new contender in the social gaming investment sector in the United States.

The newspaper’s business section flags the UK developer of the wildly successful Candy Crush Saga, King, as moving toward an initial public offering in the United States, revealing that the company has filed preliminary S-1 documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission with a view to listing on the Nasdaq exchange with a value of around $5 billion.

The Telegraph says that King will be able to exploit a loophole in the SEC regulations that enables it to keep its filing confidential for now – its turnover is below the $1 billion mark, which permits it to file in confidence.

The newspaper reports that King’s turnover earlier this year was around GBP 300 million, but that it has grown rapidly since then, with its games being played an average of 30 billion times a month, boosted by the popularity of the company’s highly successful Candy Crush Saga – one of the most successful games on Facebook.

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