Paradox Interactive is preparing to end its 17-year run as a private company at the end of next month, when the company plans to make an initial public offering of roughly 15 percent of the company.
What’s interesting here is that to make that happen Paradox is going to go public on a Nordic exchange, Nasdaq First North Premier, and will be selling shares to employees and the general public in Sweden.
Unlike many video game companies who go public (like, say, King) Paradox is not registering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and will not be selling shares on the U.S. market.
“We have created an extensive portfolio of games that has driven stable and profitable growth, headed by the highly successful games Cities: Skylines and Europa Universalis,” stated Paradox chief Fredrik Wester in the aforementioned IPO announcement. “We are now facing the next step in our development, and actively look to extend our offering towards other platforms than PC and expand geographically outside our main markets North America and Europe.”
Earlier this year Wester noted that Paradox was thinking about going public, in part so it could drum up support for continued expansion via acquisitions — like the one it made of White Wolf from CCP last year.
Alongside the news, Paradox has launched a new corporate hub and begun publishing public reports (in Swedish) of its business.