A Chinese consortium backed by billionaire Jack Ma has agreed to buy Playtika, which makes online casino-style games, from US group Caesars Interactive Entertainment for $4.4bn.

得到亿万富翁马云(Jack Ma)支持的一个中国财团同意以44亿美元收购美国凯撒互动娱乐(Caesars Interactive Entertainment)旗下在线博彩类游戏开发商Playtika。

The cash deal is the latest in a succession of large outbound Chinese acquisitions and the consortium is hoping to tap into fast-growing demand for mobile games in China and other emerging markets.

这一全现金交易是中国一系列大型并购的最新一例，这个财团希望利用中国以及其他新兴市场对于移动游戏迅速增长的需求。

Chinese companies agreed to $121.1bn worth of cross-border transactions in the first half of the year, according to data from Thomson Reuters, beating the country’s full-year record for outbound dealmaking of $111.5bn last year.

根据汤森路透(Thomson Reuters)的数据，今年上半年，中国公司达成了总计1211亿美元的跨境交易，超过了去年全年1115亿美元的境外收购纪录。

Gambling is illegal in mainland China but Playtika’s popular games like Slotomania and Bingo Blitz do not involve betting. The Israel-based company, which was acquired by Caesars in 2011, does not charge users to play but sells them extra services — the so-called freemium model behind games like Candy Crush Saga.

博彩业在中国内地是非法的，但Playtika颇受欢迎的游戏（例如Slotomania和Bingo Blitz）并不涉及赌博。 Playtika总部设在以色列，2011年由凯撒收购，它并不向玩家收费，而是向他们销售额外服务，也就是支撑《糖果粉碎传奇》(Candy Crush Saga)等游戏的免费增值(freemium)模式。

“Playtika’s growth has been exceptional, and highlights its outstanding team, excellent corporate culture, cutting-edge big data analytics, and its unique ability to transform and grow games,” said Shi Yuzhu, chairman of Shanghai Giant Network Technology, the Chinese gaming company that is leading the consortium. “We are looking forward to Playtika continuing to innovate and excel.”

“Playtika的增长非凡，这突显出其优秀的团队、卓越的企业文化、先进的大数据分析能力以及改造游戏和让游戏增值的独特能力，”牵头该财团的中国游戏公司上海巨人网络科技公司(Shanghai Giant Network Technology)董事长史玉柱表示，“我们希望Playtika继续创新并取得好成绩。”

CIE’s parent, Caesars Entertainment, is undergoing restructuring and there had been suggestions it could sell off the online division, which also owns the World Series of Poker brand, as part of that process.

凯撒互动娱乐的母公司凯撒娱乐(Caesars Entertainment)正进行重组，之前有人表示，作为重组过程的一部分，该公司可能会出售这个在线部门；凯撒还拥有世界扑克大赛(World Series of Poker)品牌。

CIE will, however, retain control of its real-money online gambling games and the companies said that the virtual currency used on Playtika will continue to have no real-world value.

然而，CIE将保留对其涉及真钱的在线博彩游戏的控制权，相关公司表示，Playtika上使用的虚拟货币在现实世界里仍然不会有任何价值。

Shanghai Giant Network Technology claims 50m monthly active users and is one of the bigger online games groups in China. In 2014 the company delisted in New York and earlier this year, it relisted in Shanghai via a reverse merger with Chongqing New Century Cruise.

上海巨人网络科技公司宣称有5000万月度活跃用户，是中国较大规模的在线游戏集团之一。2014年，巨人网络从纽约退市，并于今年早些时候通过借壳重庆新世纪游轮(Chongqing New Century Cruise)在上海重新上市。

The other members of the consortium include Yunfeng Capital, a private equity group founded by Mr Ma, and Hony Capital, a subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate Legend Holdings.

财团其他成员包括马云创办的私人股本集团云峰基金(Yunfeng Capital)以及中国巨擘联想控股(Legend Holdings)旗下子公司弘毅投资(Hony Capital)。

Playtika was founded in 2010 by Robert Antokol, an Israeli entrepreneur who will continue to run the company as chief executive following the acquisition. It says that more than 6m people in 190 countries play its games every day.

Playtika由以色列企业家罗伯特•安托科利斯基(Robert Antokol)创办于2010年，他在收购完成后将继续担任公司首席执行官。Playtika表示，每天有190个国家的逾600万人玩该公司的游戏。

The company says that social casino games, where no betting is involved, make up just 4 per cent of the global gaming market but that this segment is growing steadily. It has predicted that the size of the global social casino games market will rise from $3.4bn last year to $4.4bn by 2017.

Playtika表示，不涉及博彩的社交棋牌游戏只占全球游戏市场的4%，但这块业务稳定增长。该公司预测，到2017年，全球社交棋牌游戏市场规模将从去年的34亿美元增长至44亿美元。

Mr Antokol said that the Chinese acquisition would help the company to expand into new territories.

安托科利斯基表示，被中资收购将有助于公司扩张进入新的领域。