Savvy Games Group, wholly owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), has agreed to acquire Scopely, a maker of mobile games based in Culver City, California, for $4.9 billion, the companies said on Wednesday.

Scopely, founded in 2011, will become an autonomous operation under the Savvy umbrella, they said in a statement, noting the deal will "strengthen Savvy's global position" and enable Scopely to accelerate growth.

Last year, state news agency SPA said Savvy would invest 142 billion riyals ($37.85 billion) in initiatives aimed at making the kingdom a global hub for gaming.

In February, Savvy bought a $265 million stake in the Chinese E-sports company VSPO backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd.

($1 = 3.7513 riyals)

(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard Chang)