A&O acts alongside US duo on $275m gaming company sale

Gibson Dunn, A&O lead on sell off of gaming company Playfish

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Allen & Overy (A&O) and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati have taken lead roles on the $275m (£164m) sale of gaming company Playfish to Electronic Arts Nederland (EA).

Playfish instructed Gibson Dunn, with the deal marking the second transaction the US firm has carried out for the company's founders.

London corporate partner James Barabas and Palo Alto corporate partner Lisa Fontenot led alongside London partners Nicholas Aleksander and James Cox - who also co-heads Gibson Dunn's London office - handling tax matters and employment matters respectively.

Fontenot initially advised the founders on the sale of their first venture, Macrospace.

Wilson Sonsini advised EA on US aspects of the deal with Palo Alto corporate partner Todd Cleary leading.

The US firm worked alongside A&O for EA, with the magic circle firm advising on UK law with a team led by corporate partner Ed Barnett, alongside tax partner Lydia Challen, employment partner Mark Mansell and incentives partner Paul McCarthy.

Barabas said: "What was fun about this deal is that it is all about growth and green shoots. Over the last 12 months the majority of the deals we have been doing have had a recession flavour, where this is distinctly a 'new money' transaction."

London-based Playfish, which creates free games for social networking sites and mobile phones, is one of the world's largest social gaming companies with more than 150 million games installed and 60 million active monthly users.

The sale of the two-year-old company to EA could end up costing an additional $100m (£60.3m) if Playfish hits certain financial targets by December 2011. As it currently stands, EA will pay $275m in cash, with a further $25m (£15m) in equity retention.

Allen & Overy on the Legal Week Wiki