Angry Birds maker now aims at Asian IPO

Rovio, maker of the incredible phenomenon that is Angry Birds, is mulling the obligatory next step in tech firm domination: an IPO.

Having previously hinted at a New York debut in the next two to three years, marketing chief Peter Vesterbacka is now suggesting that Hong Kong could be the market to host Rovio's coming-out party.

"In Asia there are growing markets - the people and the money," he told Reuters.

However, in time-honoured half-secrecy, he added that no firm decision had been made yet.

It was May when the Finnish firm's chief exec Mikael Hed started making noises about a stock market listing in New York, a tried and tested forum for technological public offerings.

But the company wouldn't be the first foreign outfit to consider the Hong Kong exchange either. Global firms such as L'Occitane and Italian fashion powerhouse Prada have also listed there.

Rovio has exploded onto the gaming scene in the last two years after releasing the hugely popular, strangely addictive yet simple game of throwing angry birds at the smug pigs that have stolen their eggs.

As of the start of November, Angry Birds had been downloaded half a billion times across various platforms, making it one the most popular games of all time.

Not content with its presence on nearly every fondleslab and smartphone going, the Angry Birds have also branched out in a big way into merchandising, with toys, accessories and even flip-flops branded with furious fowl.

And that's not even mentioning the upcoming Angry Birds movie, the cookbook or the theme park in China. ®