The Dublin-based gaming company Keywords Studios has announced that they are inclined to accept a slightly reduced takeover offer from the European private equity group EQT. The new offer amounts to approximately 2.1 billion pounds.

The board of Keywords stated that it would "recommend" the latest offer of 24.50 pounds per share, which represents a slight decrease compared to EQT's proposal in May.

EQT had previously made four unsolicited offers for Keywords, all of which were rejected, before entering into advanced discussions last month for an offer of £25.50 per share.

This offer would have valued the London-listed company at approximately 2.2 billion pounds and represented a premium of over 70 percent on the then-share price.

Keywords announced in a trading update on Friday that "a small number of larger game development projects have been postponed or canceled until the second half of the year" and that other areas also showed lower demand.

Keywords added that it expects weaker demand and forecasted a revenue increase of about 7 percent in the first half of the year.

The company said that organic growth in the second half of the year would be around 10 percent, which is in line with its mid-term forecast.

Keywords offers services ranging from game art to marketing and testing. The company's clients include Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, and Tencent, and it has worked on games such as Fortnite and League of Legends.

Keywords is listed on London's Junior Aim Market and went public in 2013 with a market valuation of less than 50 million pounds before the stock increased significantly.

Here is the translated heading in English:
"Recently, however, the stock price has fallen by half from a peak in September 2021, as investors were concerned that some of its services, such as translations, might be disrupted by artificial intelligence.

The company achieved record sales of 780 million euros in 2023, representing a 13 percent increase year-over-year, while pre-tax profit fell by 49 percent to 35 million euros.

Sweden's EQT is one of the largest private investment firms and has previously acquired publicly listed British companies such as the veterinary pharmaceutical company Dechra.

The updated cash offer from EQT of £24.50 per share would represent a 13 percent increase over Keywords' last closing price of £21.72 and a slight increase over the £24.30 proposed on Wednesday.

The talks between EQT and Keywords are taking place at a time when interest in takeovers of UK-listed companies has reached its highest level since 2018, driven by depressed share prices that are attracting foreign investors.

Certainly! The translated heading in English is:

"Keywords has agreed to a short extension of the talks from Friday to July 3, the date by which EQT must make a firm offer or withdraw under the UK takeover rules.