By Milana Vinn, Federico Maccioni and Zaheer Kachwala LONDON(Reuters) -For years, tech-focused buyout group Silver Lake coveted video game developer Electronic Arts, the power behind the popular "Battlefield" and "Madden NFL" series. In a brainstorming session this spring, Silver Lake investors and U.S. President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner started hammering out plans for what became the world's largest leveraged buyout, three sources familiar with the talks said. One of the people said the talks started between Silver Lake co-CEO Egon Durban and Kushner. Backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), the $55 billion deal announced on Monday will enlarge Silver Lake's games, sports and entertainment portfolio while giving the sovereign wealth fund an asset it may want to hold on to for a long time, the sources said. EA was first approached in the summer, the people said. PIF will end up as EA's majority shareholder while Kushner's private equity fund Affinity Partners will own 5%, one of the people said. Given that PIF already owned almost 10% of EA before the deal, according to LSEG data, and had gaming investments, it made sense for Silver Lake to look at the fund as a natural partner, the person added, noting that Kushner played an important role in brokering it. Kushner, a top aide to Trump during his father-in-law's first term in the White House, founded Affinity in 2021 and has investments from funds in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He said in Monday's announcement that he grew up playing EA games and enjoys playing them with his children. Durban added that EA was special and said the consortium will invest heavily to grow the business worldwide and accelerate innovation. EA and a spokesperson for the consortium declined to comment. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has said he enjoys unwinding by playing video games with friends and his children, has laid out his ambition for his country to be the "global hub for games and esports" by 2030. "Every year we have a 15% to 25% profit so it's really amazing and we do not want to miss that," the Prince said in a Fox News interview two years ago, referring to PIF's annual return on investments in professional video game competitions called esports, in which players or teams vie for prize money. "This isn't just a spreadsheet deal. It's Saudi Arabia buying time, talent, and cultural clout in one shot," said Joost van Dreunen, games professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. "It puts a trophy IP house at the tip of the Saudi Vision 2030 spear, backed by a government that has earmarked $38 billion for games and sees interactive entertainment as both soft power and long-run monetization." As part of that goal, the almost $1 trillion Public Investment Fund has made major outlays in video game publishers in recent years through its Savvy Games Group. The investments, including a stake in "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard and holdings of about 4% in Nintendo and about 6% in Take-Two Interactive, are part of the kingdom's Saudi Vision 2030 plan to diversify away from oil by pouring billions into other sectors. EA's well-known franchises and brands, as well as the chance for PIF to bring game-developing capabilities to the kingdom, helped convince the fund to double down on its investment, one of the people said. Saudi's esports foundation has announced a new tournament for national teams next year, with EA as a partner. Qiddiya, one of PIF's infrastructure giga-projects in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, aims to attract 10 million visitors per year to its esports and gaming district by 2030, the wealth fund said this year. Branded as the 'city of play', Qiddiya is focused on entertainment and tourism, with the goal of incubating 30 leading video game development companies. The consortium is investing $36 billion in the EA buyout, including PIF's existing stake, supported by $20 billion in debt financed by JPMorgan, EA said Monday. The financing was possible due to a dearth of deals for investors in leveraged loans, as private equity firms have largely stayed on the sidelines in recent years, one of the sources and a fourth person with knowledge of the deal said. EA shareholders will receive $210 per share in cash, a 25% premium over the stock's closing price on September 25 before reports of a deal emerged. Some analysts consider that as too little. "The true earnings power of EA is only beginning to emerge," Benchmark analysts said. EA stock was trading near all-time highs, according to LSEG data. While the merger agreement allows 45 days for a superior bid to emerge, Van Dreunen saw that as unlikely to happen. "Matching it would require deep pockets and a high tolerance for scrutiny. A strategic bidder would face antitrust and cultural blowback, while private equity would struggle to pencil the leverage," he said. The deal will require regulatory approvals but is unlikely to face headwinds, some analysts said. "Given today's broadly constructive Western-Saudi ties, the consortium is more likely to face "box-ticking" reviews and a few raised eyebrows than outright resistance, as implied by the Q2 2026 expected closing date," said David O'Hara, of MKP advisors in a note published on Monday. (Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York, Federico Maccioni in Dubai and Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Writing by Anousha Sakoui; Editing by Richard Chang)
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