Tencent makes megabucks offer to buy majority stake in Ubisoft
The Guillemots have fought off takeovers before, but this is as aggressive as it gets.
A Reuters report says Tencent, China's largest tech company and an absolute gaming behemoth, has its sights set on Ubisoft. Tencent already has a 5% stake in Ubisoft, acquired in 2018, and is apparently looking to gobble up some of the 16% stake held by the Guillemot family, who co-founded and still run the business. Tencent's goal is to become the single largest shareholder in the publisher.
Ubisoft is currently valued at around $5.3 billion, and Tencent is looking to buy at a price of $101.84 per share (its 2018 stake was bought at roughly $67 dollars per share). This is a massive offer: Ubisoft's stock price has averaged around $45 per share so far this year, while its highest-ever valuation was around $110 in 2018.
80% of Ubisoft is publicly owned, and Tencent is also looking to acquire shares from elsewhere as well as the Guillemots. With an offer price like that, it probably won't be hard.
Ubisoft shares went up 15% following Reuters report about Tencent, which certainly shows that shareholders like the sound of money, while the Guillemot family company (which holds their shares) also rose 7% in value. It's unclear how far along any projected deal is, with Reuters' sources saying no deal is finalised, though Tencent executives met the Guillemots in May and have submitted an offer with the company's high price.
Neither Tencent nor Ubisoft has commented on the report. One insider did say: "Tencent is very determined to nail down the deal as Ubisoft is such an important strategic asset for Tencent".
Tencent's holdings are legion and, while China is in the midst of a giant tech crackdown, it's looking to increase its international appeal. It already has stakes in the likes of Epic Games, Riot, Supercell, and Frontier, while outright acquiring studios including Sumo, Turtle Rock, Playtonic, and Digital Extremes. It's actually pretty dizzying just how much of the gaming industry Tencent owns.
This is not a done deal: the Guillemot family has previously shown it wants to retain control of Ubisoft, and most notably fought off a takeover from Vivendi (which eventually sold all of its acquired shares back to the publisher). The Guillemots managed to fight Vivendi off at the time thanks to investments from, among others, Tencent: oops!