Chinese enterprise group Tencent There are plans to acquire more shares Ubisoftaccording to people familiar with the matter.
According to Reuters, the company has expressed interest in increasing its stake in the game maker. It acquired a 5% stake in Ubisoft back in 2018, and as of press time, it was unclear how many shares Tencent planned to acquire, but it hopes to become the single largest shareholder.
The Guillemot family, which is now worth $5.3 billion, founded Ubisoft and owns 15.9 percent of the company and 22.3 percent of its net voting shares. Tencent could bid as much as $101.84 a share for additional shares, a 127% premium to the stock’s average price of $44.81 over the past three months.
Tencent will also seek to acquire shares from public shareholders who hold about 80 percent of Ubisoft. To this end, Tencent plans to make a “non-binding offer” to Ubisoft on the basic terms and conditions of the investment. Executives even flew to France in May to meet with the Guillemot family to discuss the acquisition.
Tencent holds stakes in several video game companies including Epic Games, Riot Games, Sumo Digital, Supercell, Dontnod, Frontier Developments, Yager, Klei Entertainment, Funcom, and has invested in many others.