GN Store Nord to acquire SteelSeries

The total transaction vale amounts to DKK 8.0 billion (EUR 1.07 billion), and the company expects to close the transaction by the beginning of 2022. SteelSeries presents an attractive new growth opportunity for GN. The acquisition of SteelSeries will bring complementary engineering competencies, commercial capabilities, differentiated brands, a large customer base and a high-growth product offering, adding further technical expertise and IP to GN. “We have for some time searched for the right way for GN to enter the very interesting gaming market, being keenly interested in the “high-end” segment. SteelSeries delivers on this aspiration of ours and we see a perfect match in terms of technology and commercial capabilities, premium brand positioning, and growth ambitions. SteelSeries brings a highly relevant and competitive portfolio and strong engineering competencies. Combining our forces will benefit both organizations as we enter a future where demand for our portfolios of products will continue to be strong,” says René Svendsen-Tune, CEO of GN Audio, in a press release. Ehtisham Rabbani, CEO of SteelSeries, adds: “SteelSeries is a premium gaming gear brand with a single-minded focus on helping gamers achieve glory. We are thrilled to become part of GN. The fit is perfect as we both share a relentless drive for creating cutting-edge technology to delight our customers. We see great upside in leveraging each organization’s unique strengths to build an even more formidable, unified company.” Originally founded in Denmark in 2001, SteelSeries is a provider of gaming gear. The company is particularly known for its premium gaming headsets, keyboards and mice that are software-enabled and system-integrated. The gaming gear market has experienced significant growth over the past few years and is expected to continue to grow in the mid-term at around 7-8% per year. SteelSeries has successfully executed on its strategy in the premium end of this high-growth market and has taken significant market share during the past few years based on its strong, innovative product offering and relentless commercial execution. In addition, SteelSeries acquired France-based A-Volute and U.S.-based KontrolFreek during 2020, adding additional software engineering capabilities and enhancing its position in the console gear market. SteelSeries has ~350 employees (of which 80 are software engineers) and has offices in Denmark, France, the U.S., China and Taiwan.