Third-party app store publisher Flexion has gained a new shareholder in the form of Alta Fox Capital.

Alta Fox is a well-known “activist investor” - being an investor which buys a large amount of stock in order to influence the direction of a company - and has previously been in the news for their efforts to push Hasbro to spin-off their numerous properties such as Dungeons & Dragons. Flexion, of course, needs little introduction as a well-known publisher of games to third-party app stores, such as the Huawei AppGallery. They’ve boasted strong recent financials thanks to a raft of deals with major developers such as NetEase and Fingersoft.

In a Tweet, founder of Alta Fox, Connor Haley commented after the deal, “Alta Fox is excited to have recently bought a large block of stock at Flexion Mobile PLC $FLEXM. We believe $FLEXM is an underappreciated growth story in the market and our opportunistic purchase cleaned up 100% of shares from what we would categorise as a distressed seller.”

A fox on the prowl?

The fact that Alta Fox is well-known for its active role in the management of companies which it invests in should likely be cause for interest from those observing Flexion’s performance. While the amount purchased and the level of control to be exercised is still unknown it seems that Alta Fox are very interested in the potential of Flexion, funding the investment from their Alta Fox Opportunities fund, which is made to “invest in overlooked and under-the-radar opportunities.”

This investment could also be seen as a further vindication of Drake Star's previous optimistic outlook on M&A and investment in the mobile gaming sphere earlier this year. It’s particularly interesting to note that Alta Fox feels that Flexion is a potentially huge moneymaker in waiting, more so than it already is. Their endorsement of the company may help bring further positive attention to Flexion, and alternative app store publishing as a whole.