Keywords Studios set to recommend $2.48 billion takeover by EQT

(Reuters) -Video game services group Keywords Studios said on Friday it was willing to agree to a 1.96 billion pound ($2.48 billion) takeover by EQT if the private equity firm made a formal offer at that price.

The latest proposal is lower than a 25.50 pound per share proposal from EQT first disclosed in May.

The Dublin-based company said EQT on Thursday had proposed to buy the company for 24.50 pounds per share, a price that the Keywords board could recommend to shareholders. This was an increase from a previous proposal of 24.30 pounds a share received on Wednesday.

EQT has until July 3 to make a formal offer or walk away.

Shares in the video game services company, which caters to the developers of some of the world's biggest games, were up 5.5% in early trade.

Keywords on Friday also warned of lower margins, as it grapples with slower content creation trends.

"Due to the timing of the cost saving programmes and the reduction of volumes, first-half adjusted operating margins are expected to be lower," Keywords said in a statement.

Keywords said first-half organic growth was dented by deferral or cancellation of some larger game development projects amid a slow ramp-up in content production in Hollywood.

The company provides technical and creative services to the video games industry, including producing games or parts of games for other developers, translating games into different languages, and providing sound effects.

The emergence of streaming models and the shift to mobile have increased growth opportunities for the video gaming market and made companies in the industry attractive as buy-out targets.

Keywords shares have lost about 30% from a record high of 33.16 pounds in September 2021.

Keywords, which initially provided localisation services for business software before shifting to games, had previously rejected four approaches from EQT, it said in May.

The London-listed company, founded in 1998, has not disclosed the prices of those four proposals.

($1 = 0.7916 pounds)

(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil and Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Jane Merriman)