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Gaming enthusiasts pose for photos during the EA Play 2019 event on June 8, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
fake images
Gaming giant Electronics Arts has surpassed a $ 1 billion offer from the publisher of “Grand Theft Auto”
Take-Two Interactive
for UK-listed Codemasters with a rival bid of $ 1.2 billion.
European manufacturer of computer games
Codemasters Group,
which specializes in auto racing games, has endorsed Electronics Arts and slammed on its recommendation for Take-Two’s previous offering.
Bidding battle comes four months after Codemasters was reported Barron undervalued at 341 pence (455 cents). The shares closed at 642 pence on Monday and if readers had invested they would have seen an 88% increase in their stake.
Read:Take-Two Interactive is buying Codemasters for $ 1 billion. Why it could trigger rival offers.
The companies said in a statement: “The boards of Electronic Arts and Codemasters are pleased to announce that they have reached an agreement on the terms of a cash acquisition recommended by Codex Games, an indirect subsidiary of EA, of all broadcast content and for being issued the share capital of Codemasters ”.
The deal will link EA’s “Need for Speed” and “Real Racing” franchises with Codemasters’ auto racing games. It owns “F1”, the hit Formula One racing championship game, and recently agreed to a five-year franchise to make the “FIA World Rally Championship”, giving it the most important intellectual property in motorsports. world level, and has a strong portfolio of future games. .
EA CEO Andrew Wilson said in a statement: “Our industry is growing, the racing category is growing, and together we will be positioned to lead a new era of racing entertainment. “
EA’s share offering is priced at 604 pence a share, which is a premium over Take-Two’s cash and share offering, which was worth about 528 pence a share.
Codemasters was started in 1986 by two brothers, David and Richard Darling, who had cut their teeth on programming after persuading a janitor to give them access to the school computer. As teenagers, they got their own Vic-20 computer and designed inexpensive games that made £ 200,000 when they were 16 and 17.
Read:Codemasters Stock can speed up with new racing games
Looking to the future. Codemasters maintains key relationships with the industry and is well positioned to ensure further growth. Katie Cousins, analyst at broker Shore Capital, wrote: “This is a very attractive and growing industry and Codemasters has a unique position in the market.
“Take-Two has responded that it is” considering its position in relation to Codemasters and a further announcement will be made when appropriate, however we believe EA’s offer is fair. “
While EA’s rival offering is blunt, it has yet to reach the finish line. Last month, Columbia Threadneedle Investments, an investor in Codemasters, had said: “We would not be surprised if there were competitive offers in the next few weeks.”
Note the plural. While EA was an obvious bidder, some think other rivals might step in and we were able to see a convoy of counter offers.
