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HONG KONG—In his charm offensive to win China's biggest overseas technology acquisition, Martin Lau swapped his sophisticated banker persona for that of geeky gamer by playing up his obsession with Supercell Oy's mobile game "Clash Royale."

Mr. Lau, president of Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. "had just dropped out from the 'Clash Royale' global top-100 players, and it was almost impossible to get his focus back to the topics we had to discuss," Supercell co-founder Ilkka Paananen wrote on his blog after the deal was announced last month.

Tencent's $8.6 billion deal to buy the Finnish games maker from Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. and other shareholders shines a spotlight on Mr. Lau, a low-key but polished former Goldman Sachs banker. The 43-year-old executive is central to the Chinese company's ambitions to grow outside China—where it leads in videogames and runs the biggest messaging platforms—into a global company.

Mr. Lau's obsession with "Clash Royale"—colleagues say he plays it and other Supercell games in the office—and his assurance that Supercell's management would stay in charge after the takeover helped win the deal.

For Mr. Lau, the Supercell buy is the latest in a string of bold bets, starting with his decision more than a decade ago to leave Goldman Sachs to join Tencent, which was then an upstart internet company valued at $1.3 billion. He has since led Tencent's growth through deals to buy into China's biggest startups and major U.S. videogame companies.

Investors recently valued Tencent at about $224 billion, more than Intel Corp., at $165 billion, or International Business Machines Corp., at $153 billion. It is the world's biggest games publisher by revenue with a dominant share in China. It has a huge distribution network for mobile games in its ubiquitous WeChat messaging service, which boasts 762 million monthly active users.

Still, some investors argue that Mr. Lau is making a risky bet on Supercell churning out more hit games. Tencent's deal valued the Finnish company at a pricey $10.2 billion, almost double what it was a year earlier. Other top mobile game companies such as Rovio Entertainment Ltd., the company behind the "Angry Birds" franchise, have struggled to repeat early success with new offerings. Supercell also faces up-and-coming rivals such as Silicon Valley startup Machine Zone Inc., known for "Game of War: Fire Age." Japan's Nintendo Co. is also expanding into mobile games with its part-ownership in the "Poké mon Go" sensation.

"This deal is a test of Tencent's ability to make overseas acquisitions work," said Tony Chu, portfolio manager at RS Investments, which manages $17 billion. "As long as Supercell is doing well, Tencent can leave it alone. The question is: what will it do if Supercell's growth slows?"

Tencent declined to make Mr. Lau available for an interview.

When it announced the deal last month, Mr. Lau said that Tencent had been interested in investing in Supercell for years. An attempt three years ago to buy Supercell failed over disagreements on valuation, according to a person familiar with the situation.

"If you think about how long we have waited, we are going to be in this for a very, very long time," Mr. Lau said.

After growing up in Hong Kong, Mr. Lau studied electrical engineering at the University of Michigan. After a stint at consulting firm McKinsey & Co., he joined Goldman Sachs, where he managed Tencent's 2004 initial public offering in Hong Kong.

Mr. Lau added a dose of financial savvy to Tencent's executive team, led by founder Ma Huateng, who is known as a detail-oriented product manager obsessed with quality. Colleagues say Mr. Ma, known as Pony, gives Mr. Lau wide latitude to steer Tencent's overseas partnerships.

He "brought a degree of professionalism to Tencent," says Richard Ji, chief investment officer of the $900 million All-Stars Investment Ltd., which owns Tencent shares.

Tencent's global reach has been widened through deals Mr. Lau put together to buy Los Angeles-based Riot Games, which makes the popular "League of Legends" game, and a stake in Activision Blizzard Inc., owner of the "Call of Duty" and "Warcraft" franchises.

At home, Mr. Lau was the driving force behind lucrative stakes in e-commerce company JD.com Inc. and $28 billion ride-hailing startup Didi Chuxing Technology Co., which also counts Apple Inc. as an investor.

His aggressive deal-making ruffled some feathers earlier this year when he offered $1 billion to a startup backed by rival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. on the condition that it merged with a Tencent backed-competitor, according to people familiar with the situation. The deal, according to the people, sparked a rift between the combined company, Meituan-Dianping, and Alibaba, which unloaded its shares, hampering the startup's fundraising efforts at the time.

Tencent and Alibaba declined to comment.

Still, venture capitalists say Mr. Lau's ability to find common ground with potential partners has helped Tencent seal key deals. In 2014, when Tencent's e-commerce operations were gaining little traction, it changed tack and teamed up with JD.com. Mr. Lau swapped ownership of Tencent's struggling e-commerce business for 15% of JD.com, turning a cash-burning business with poor prospects into what is now a $5.2 billion stake in China's second-largest online shopping company.

Mr. Lau has been behind consolidation in China's startup world. Before Tencent-backed online shopping startup Meilishuo.com merged with rival Mogujie.com in January, Mr. Lau met with Mogujie founder Chen Qi.

"Martin reassured me about the future and made it clear that Tencent would give us sufficient support," Mr. Chen said.

Matthias Verbergt contributed to this article.

Write to Juro Osawa at juro.osawa@wsj.com and Rick Carew at rick.carew@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 17, 2016 22:15 ET (02:15 GMT)

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