Ubisoft has reached an agreement with Vivendi, for its full exit from Ubisoft’s share capital.
Vivendi will sell its entire stake in Ubisoft, representing 27.3% of the company’s share capital. The transaction has been broken down into sections below:
Ontario Teachers’ Pension plan and Tencent enter Ubisoft’s share capital as long-term investors. Tencent, as part of the agreement, signed a partnership agreement with Ubisoft.
Ubisoft bought back all of the Vivendi-owned Ubisoft shares, which are now accretive to all Ubisoft shareholders, meaning they will increase over time as accumulated share.
All transactions are realised at the price of 66 Euros per share, a continued roll-out of Ubisoft’s growth strategy, which is based on the company’s new business model being deployed.
Ubisoft will exit Vivendi, with sale of all of Vivendi’s 30,489,300 shares, which now include two new long-term investors, Ontario Teachers’ Public Equities division and Tencent, as mentioned above. Once finalised, Vivendi will no longer hold any shares in Ubisoft, and will commit to not encroaching on Ubisoft stocks for a 5-year span.
Yves Guillemot, CEO and Co-Founder, said: “The evolution in our shareholding is great news for Ubisoft. It was made possible thanks to the outstanding execution of our strategy and the decisive support of Ubisoft talents, players and shareholders. I would like to warmly thank them all. The investment from new long-term shareholders in Ubisoft demonstrates their trust in our future value creation potential, and Ubisoft`s share buy-back will be accretive to all shareholders. Finally, the new strategic partnership agreement we signed will enable Ubisoft to accelerate its development in China in the coming years and fully leverage a market with great potential.”
“Today, Ubisoft is fully reaping the benefits of our long-term strategy and the successful transformation towards a more recurring and profitable business. Ubisoft is perfectly positioned to capture the numerous video game growth drivers in the coming years. We are focused more than ever on delivering on our strategic plan.”
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has committed to acquire 3,787,878 Ubisoft shares (3.4% of capital), with Tencent committing to 5,591,469 Ubisoft shares (5.0% of capital). Tencent promises not to transfer its share, nor increase its share ownership and voting rights within Ubisoft.
Ubisoft will buy back upwards of 9,090,909 of its own shares (8.1% capital) from Vivendi, through a transaction through Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (CACIB). The progressive buy-back of the shares will be from 2019 to 2021, bolstering Ubisoft as a company.
This news acts as the culminating act of the story, which began in early 2017 when Vivendi planned a hostile takeover of the games company.
Yves Guillemot commented on the matter earlier in the year, predicting that Vivendi would be unsuccessful in their efforts.
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