Vivendi Has Signed off on Its Shares
Since last year, even before E3 2017, French company Vivendi was on the verge of acquiring majority shares of Ubisoft. Today, however, it looks like Vivendi has reached a new agreement with the gaming company.
In their new agreement with Ubisoft, Vivendi has agreed to part with its 30,489,300 shares of the company. In tandem, Ubisoft is partnering with two companies who will acquire portions of those shares. We have the Ontario Teachers’ Public Equities division, who committed to 3,787,878 shares (3.4% of capital); in addition, there’s Chines corporation Tencent, who also owns a large portion of Epic Games. They’ve committed to 5,591,469 shares (5.0% of capital).
With a few technical stipulations, Ubisoft will buy back a total of  9,090,909 of its own shares (8.1% of capital).Through banks, the company will incrementally regain its stock until Vivendi is completely out of the picture. Finally, Guillemot Brothers SE will buy back 3,030,303 shares, which amounts to 2.7% of capital. In summary, Ubisoft is no longer be in danger of a corporate takeover.
What does this mean for gamers? More than likely, it means we can expect the continued development of great AAA games and games-as-a-service. Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Rainbow Six: Siege, For Honor, and The Division 2 will remain relevant for years to come. Ubisoft will have the freedom to continue support of fan-favorite franchises, which is fantastic since, recently, they’ve really bolstered the quality of each IP. Here’s to more of that.
SOURCE: Invision