Israel-based social casino games studio Playtika Holding Corp. recently filed for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The documents were submitted confidentially, according to a Friday announcement from the firm.

News of an IPO arrived earlier this year

In June 2020, news of Playtika looking for hiring banks for a US IPO emerged, which indicated that a public offering on a US-exchange could happen soon. According to the sources, the company was looking for a $1 billion public offering on a $10 billion valuation. The company plans to go public by the end of this year or in early 2021.

The Herzliya, Israel-based company was founded in 2010 as a developer and operator of social casino games. It also creates solitaire and poker apps. It was bought by Caesar Interactive Entertainment, a subsidiary of Caesars Entertainment Inc.) in 2011 for $130 million. The company’s valuation has skyrocketed because of the increasing demand for social casinos. In 2016, the company was bought for $4.4 billion by a Chinese consortium which was led by Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s Yunfeng Capital and Giant Network Group Co. Ltd.

IPO market picks up

Playtika is looking forward to going public at a time when the US IPO market is seeing a significant pick up from the coronavirus related downturn. The market started responding well in late June after consistently declining activity in April and May. Several companies scrapped their IPO plans fearing a global recession. However, low-interest rates and central bank stimulus measures were able to renew the appetite for stocks. Consequently, IPOs raised $122 billion in the first three quarters of 2020, which is a record in two years.

Playtika is looking for an IPO in a hot market where companies are benefitting from the coronavirus crisis. The company has already benefitted because of the surge in mobile gaming, specially casino-style games. Due to the extended lockdown periods, consumers have been staying home and the demand for online casino games has been on a steady rise since. The company’s current userbase is 27 million monthly active players.