The entertainment arm of Chinese chemical firm Jinke is back in to acquire Talking Tom developer Outfit7 for $1 billion from its new owner.

It had originally been believed that the company had bought the developer in January 2017.

Those rumours were shortly followed by an official announcement that the developer had been sold for $1 billion to a consortium of investors from Asia, represented by United Luck Group Holdings Limited.

Not the chemical firm Jinke.

Quick-fire second sale?

Forbes and Yibada now report however that Jinke Entertainment Culture has signed a framework agreement to purchase Outfit7 from the group of investors, just four days after the sale to United Luck Group Holdings was announced.

It’s unclear whether there was a originally a bidding war between the two in which Jinke lost out, whether this deal was planned from the start, or whether Jinke was still keen on the deal regardless of a change of hands.

Though becoming one of the stranger deals in Chinese games industry M&A history, there have been many seemingly bizarre acquisitions in the past by firms not typically associated with the games or entertainment sectors.

These include a chicken supplier buying out UK developer Splash Damage and an auto group purchasing Chinese Mobile Games and Entertainment.

While strange, our Contributing Editor Jon Jordan recently assessed why these deals may not be so bizarre after all.