Tencent is to buy a majority stake in the Finnish maker of the mobile game Clash of Clans from Japan’s SoftBank for $8.6bn, in a deal that will turn the Chinese technology company into an international online gaming superpower.

The takeover of 84 per cent of Supercell, which values the gaming group at about $10.2bn, represents the biggest overseas acquisition for the Hong Kong-listed operator of mobile messaging app WeChat. Tencent has already made several gaming investments in the US including Riot Games, Glu Mobile and Epic Games.

Ilkka Paananen, Supercell’s chief executive, said a big attraction of the deal was gaining access to the 300m gamers that use Tencent. “One of the big things that drives us is trying to reach as many players as possible,” he added.