The maker of the addictive mobile game Candy Crush hopes to raise

The maker of the addictive mobile game Candy Crush hopes to raise as much as $532.8 million in a New York IPO that would value the company at up to $7.6 billion.

King Digital Entertainment, the British developer behind the hit game, filed new documents on its much-awaited initial public offering that showed plans to sell 22.2 million shares at between $21 and $24 a share.

That would give the company a market capitalization of between $6.6 billion and $7.6 billion.

But the addictive qualities of the Candy Crush Saga, and the company’s ability to monetize that by users on computers, tablets and cellphones paying extra to help them advance through its 500 levels, underpin the sky-high valuation.

The company says its games, which also include Farm Heroes and Pet Rescue, are installed on 600 million mobile devices, and played over 1.4 billion times a day — more than one billion alone for Candy Crush.

That has driven a sharp climb in revenues, from $22 million in the first quarter of 2012 to $602 million in the fourth quarter of last year, the company said in its filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Profits in the fourth quarter reached $159 million.

Source AFP