Back in February 2016 we reported on Vivendi who were essentially forced under French law to make a takeover bid on Gameloft after acquiring a large stake in Gameloft after their last share buy. This all began in October 2015, which is when Vivdeni began buying up chunks of Gameloft’s shares and after netting around a 30% stake in Gameloft, and because of Vivdeni now owning a 30% stake in Gameloft, under French law this means they have a mandatory takeover offer to make and they did.
However, just because Vivendi makes the offer, it doesn’t mean share holders have to sell their shares of anything like that. But, buying a large chunk of shares at a rapid pace does look like a hostile takeover type of event. Gameloft made their position on the whole thing pretty clear from the start, which is that they are not for the takeover on any level. Today Gameloft released a press release/statement about the whole ordeal, tearing into the deal with a number of reasons as to why it is bad.
If you don’t want to read the statement, we have broken down the key reasons here for you. First, the offer undercuts the current value of Gameloft shares by around 1.4%, which may not seem like a lot, but it actually is. Gameloft management also is arguing that any synergies Vivendi is suggesting that will occur post-takeover are illusory, and that in both the short term and long, the offer will actively hurt Gameloft.
Gameloft’s Order & Chaos 2
Actually, according to Gameloft, Vivendi’s media business is mainly rooted in pay TV and music right now. Vivendi can’t offer Gameloft anything worthwhile in the telecom or internet space as well. On top of that, Gameloft went after Vivendi’s management of Activision, as most gamers know they once owned Activision before they let go of them. That was a whole mess in itself really, and Gameloft wasn’t afraid to point that fact out either.
“Vivendi does not have any specific know-how in the video game industry since the sale of Activision. The recent sale of Activision by Vivendi illustrates its lack of strategic vision in the long term in the gaming industry. Moreover, the unfavorable trend of revenues and profitability of Activision over the last years during which the group was held by Vivendi illustrates its lack of knowledge of value creation levers in the gaming industry.” – Gameloft Management
Basically, they are saying Vivendi has no idea what they are doing in regards to the video game industry. To wrap things up on what Gameloft thinks of the deal, which is an all around big fat hell no, and even worry about what it will do with the current partnerships Gameloft has with other companies:
Gameloft has demonstrated its ability to generate cash while pursuing its organic development To conclude, the Board of Directors considers unanimously that the offer which is initiated by Vivendi has no strategic interest for Gameloft and the contemplated partnership won’t create substantial synergies for Gameloft shareholders nor accelerate the industrial project of the company.
The whole statement is interesting to read, which can be found below or over in our PR section here. So what do you think about all of this? Let us know in the comments below.
Related Article: Vivendi trying to take over Gameloft
