Ubisoft Shares Gain on Vivendi Exit
21 Março 2018 - 6:28AM
Dow Jones News
By Alberto Delclaux and Sarah Sloat
Shares in Ubisoft Entertainment SA (UBI.FR) gained Wednesday
after France's Vivendi SA (VIV.FR) said it was abandoning a power
struggle with the videogame maker by selling its entire stake for 2
billion euros ($2.46 billion).
Vivendi, which first bought a stake in Ubisoft three years ago,
said it would sell its 27.27% stake for EUR66 per share. As part of
the transaction, Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK) will take 5% in the
company and support Ubisoft's expansion in China, Ubisoft said.
At 0836 GMT, Ubisoft shares traded 5.0% higher at EUR71.98,
while Vivendi shares gained 1.7% to EUR21.76. Although the sale
represents a reversal for Vivendi, it said the EUR2 billion price
tag is more than double the EUR794 million it spent on building its
stake over the past three years.
The deal represents the end of tensions between Vivendi and
Ubisoft, letting the videogame maker escape the potential takeover
it has been dreading since Vivendi first bought a stake in 2015.
Ubisoft has opposed Vivendi's moves to build its stake and to its
taking of any board positions, saying Vivendi would destroy
shareholder value.
"Ubisoft's management showed that David could beat Goliath twice
in a row," say analysts at Bryan Garnier, referring to the hostile
overtures by Electronic Arts (EA) in 2004 and Vivendi about a
decade later.
Bryan Garnier said the deal represented "the only positive way
forward," and estimated Vivendi's capital gain at EUR1.2
billion.
In addition to Tencent, Ubisoft said the Ontario Teachers
Pension Plan is buying a 3.4% stake in the company.
"The entry of these two high-profile investors in Ubisoft's
share capital validates Ubisoft's strategy and confirms the value
creation potential for its shareholders," Ubisoft said.
The company also has agreements to sell 3 million shares to
Guillemot Brothers SE, a minority shareholder, and 7.59 million
shares to Ubisoft itself. The Guillemot family founded Ubisoft
about three decades ago.
Vivendi will no longer be a Ubisoft shareholder and agreed not
to purchase any Ubisoft shares for five years. The company does,
however, plan to strengthen its position in the videogame sector,
it said.
Write to Alberto Delclaux at alberto.delclaux@dowjones.com and
Sarah Sloat at sarah.sloat@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 21, 2018 05:13 ET (09:13 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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