After years of stories about hostile takeovers and the acquisitions of shares, Vivendi has agreed to sell its entire 27.3 per cent stake in Ubisoft.
Vivendi has sold their 30,489,300 shares at €66 per share. They bought their shares a total of €750 million and have received €2 billion in return. As for where the shares are going, a press release reads, “The transaction includes an investment by two new long-term investors, the Relationship Investing arm of Ontario Teachers’ Public Equities division, and Tencent, a share buy-back by Ubisoft, an acquisition of shares by Guillemot Brothers SE and an Accelerated Bookbuilding with institutional investors. Following the implementation of the transaction, Vivendi will no longer hold any shares in Ubisoft, and has committed not to acquire any shares in Ubisoft for 5 years.”
The partnership with Tencent will see the acceleration of efforts in the Chinese market. CEO and Co-Founder of Ubisoft, Yves Guillemot, has said, “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.” For more on the deals and details on Vivendi’s sale, see the full press release.
Once the sale is completed, Vivendi will no longer be involved in Ubisoft.
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