After two years of waiting, Chinese esports company eStar Gaming Victory Five (ESV5) announced Tuesday that the company has completed its merger with Sweden-based esports organization Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) through an equity swap.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The new entity will be called “NIP Group” in English (The Chinese name remains 星竞威武), and ESV5 CEO Mario Ho and NIP CEO Hicham Chahine will serve as the NIP Group’s co-CEOs.
In addition, ESV5 told The Esports Advocate that eStar Gaming CEO Sun “XiaOt” Liwei will act as the president of NIP Group, and eStar Gaming will run independently. Founded by Liwei, eStar Gaming is currently the biggest prize money winner in mobile esports history, winning over $10M USD from Honor of Kings (In December, eStar Gaming’s Honor of Kings team eStar.Pro won $10M Honor of Kings International Championship and took home $3.5M in prize money).
Based in Wuhan, ESV5 is a joint venture of eStar Gaming and Victory Five (V5). Ho is the founder of V5 and the team competed in China’s top League of Legends competition – the League of Legends Pro League (LPL). According to LPL’s official website, V5 has rebranded to NIP for the upcoming LPL Spring Season, but kept the V5 roster and management intact. The LPL Spring Season will begin on Jan.14, and NIP will become the first Western team brand in LPL.
NIP is better known as an esports organization that mainly competes in FPS-related esports titles including CS:GO, Rainbow Six Siege, and Valorant, among others. The merger helps NIP enter China’s esports market, as well as the League of Legends and Honor of Kings esports scenes. With plans to be listed on the NASDAQ in the future, this is also a big move for ESV5.