Nazara Technologies gets creditor approval to acquire Smaaash Entertainment

Gaming and sports media company Nazara Technologies received a letter of intent on August 8 to acquire sports entertainment start-up Smaaash Entertainment.

Nazara Technologies Limited has been declared the “successful resolution applicant” for Smaaash Entertainment Private Limited, a company currently undergoing the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016.

The committee of creditors (CoC) of Smaaash has approved Nazara’s resolution plan, and Nazara received a letter of intent (LOI) from Smaaash’s resolution professional on August 7, 2024, confirming this approval.

Nazara mentioned in a regulatory filing, “The Resolution Plan submitted by the Company in connection with the acquisition of Smaaash is subject to the terms of the LOI and requisite approvals from the Hon’ble National Company Law Tribunal and/or any other regulatory authority/courts/tribunal (as the case may be) under applicable laws.”

This indicates that Nazara’s plan to buy Smaaash is not final as it is subject to legal approvals. This includes the approval of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and other regulatory bodies as deemed necessary.

In order to acquire Smaaash, Nazara Board has been given preliminary approval to get a bank guarantee of up to Rs 20 crore from Standard Chartered Bank. This guarantee is meant for the official handling Smaaash Entertainment’s insolvency case. The approval came after receiving a letter of intent from this official on August 7, 2024.

In a regulatory filing, Nazara mentioned, “In-principally approved availing performance bank guarantee facility for an amount not exceeding INR 20.00 Crores from Standard Chartered Bank in favor of the Resolution Professional (“RP”) of Smaaash Entertainment Private Limited (“Smaaash”), a company undergoing Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (“CIRP”) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“IBC”), for which the Company has received Letter of Intent (“LOI”) dated August 07, 2024 from the RP.”

Smaaash Entertainment was taken into insolvency by the Mumbai bench of the NCLT in May 2022. This was after the company failed to repay a Rs 292.4 crore debt to Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Co. Following this, Bhrugesh Amin was then assigned as the resolution professional to manage the company’s operations.

Recently, in March, it was reported that Nazara is looking to acquire Smaaash through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The development comes at a time when UK-based gaming studio FuseBox A has also been acquired by Nazara Technologies for $27.2 million in an all-cash transaction. Outlook Business