Gameloft, known for such games as their Asphalt series, along with a selection of licenced games such as The Winter Soldier, and Spider-Man Unlimited HD, may be soon in the hands of Vivendi. After purchasing over 30 percent of the shares Vivendi was forced into a hostile takeover bid, but it now seems they may have support from shareholders.
In a report in Bloomberg, Vivendi has already won the hearts and minds of “the majority” of shareholders and are ready to move forward with the takeover. “According to people familiar with the matter” shareholders have agreed to hand over their shares for 8 euros, 33 percent more than Vivendi had initially offered.
According to the report, Amber Capital is also working with Vivendi, and they currently have a 14.6 percent stake in the French mobile developer/publisher.
The Guillemot family, who run Ubisoft and Gameloft and will not tender their shares “according to the people” close to the matter. According to the report, they were in talks with a friendly investor to fight off Vivendi, although those talks fell due to “issues of valuation”.
Vivendi is also trying a similar approach to Ubisoft, but as of right now they only have 17.7 percent of the shares, but are currently seeking board representation and to increase their investment. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot is currently looking for Canadian investors to help fend off the bid and was have adamantly stated Ubisoft’s resistance to being in the hands of Vivendi.
With gaming now such a valuable business worldwide, it is no wonder Vivendi, who used to control Activision/Blizzard, would be trying to reenter this sector of the market. It is unclear how the bid for Gameloft, and subsequently Ubisoft will go, but we will update accordingly as the situation changes.
