At a glance: Eurazeo Capital, a private equity firm, bought 60% of Asmodee in 2013 for €143m. EC’s business model is to buy promising properties and invest heavily through financial and managerial support to grow them, usually aggressively. This accounts for all the acquisitions and mergers Asmodée (really, EC) has been doing over the last three years; it’s all been part of EC’s business plan.
Understand that when an equity firm like this buys properties, it is never their intention to keep them forever. Their sole business agenda is to create rapid value through aggressive investment and expansion, then sell their stake in part or whole to realize a profit. If EC wants to sell now, then they believe they’ve extracted the best ROI (return on investment) they can from Asmodee.
Note that this doesn’t mean it’s all downhill, business-wise, for Asmodee; it could just mean that the projected growth/profitability of Asmodee at this point is lower than EC feels they could get with another property (e.g. why settle for 5% growth if you can get 10% elsewhere). Certainly Asmodee has grown to a size where additional mergers and acquisitions will add less and less value comparatively.
To the end consumer, the sale is neither good nor bad, inherently. It depends on what the new owner does. If Asmodee’s management is left alone, then things could go on as before. If the new owner wants to impose changes, then that might impact things on a consumer level.