Keyword Studios lands $400m credit facility to pursue new deals

AIB and Bank of Ireland are among a group seven lenders to extend a new $400 million (€359.4 million) loan facility to Dublin-based Keyword Studios to pursue its growth strategy.

The Irish company, which provides technical and creative services to the video game industry, announced on Friday that it has secured an unsecured revolving credit facility (RCF) from the group of banks that also includes Bank of China, HSBC, Danske Bank, ING and Citibank.

It said the new facility will replace a previous €150 million loan with the currency changed from euro to US dollar “to match the expected predominant currency of future borrowings”.

Rob Kingston, chief financial officer at London-listed Keyword – which recently acquired US game development studio Hardsuit in a deal worth up to $15 million (€13.7 million) – said the new and expanded RCF is more suitably scaled to a business of Keyword’s size.

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“We continue to review a strong pipeline of acquisition candidates and this RCF, together with our strong cash generation, provides the long-term liquidity and flexibility to pursue our growth strategy whilst maintaining a well-balanced mix of equity and debt funding,” he said.

Shares in Keyword advanced 1.5 per cent in early trading in London on Friday following the announcement.

Revenues at Keyword jumped by 35 per cent to €691 million last year, according to figures published in March, on the back of what the company said was “sustained demand for high quality content and a continuing trend towards external service provision”.

The company, which provides services to 23 of the top 25 most prominent games companies, also delivered five acquisitions for a total maximum consideration of €140 million in 2022, which strengthened its “create, engage and technology offerings and capabilities”.