Ubisoft is seeking Canadian investors to fend off Vivendi takeover.

B

BY2K

Membero Americo
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...ndi.php?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

“We want to increase the number of Canadian shareholders in Ubisoft to have better control over the capital. ... We feel it’s a good defense.”

- Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot

Ubisoft is actively making plans to fend off a hostile takeover by French conglomerate Vivendi, Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail reports.

The company is courting investment from both the Quebec provincial government and the Canadian national government, the newspaper reports -- as well as many others, up to a dozen -- to keep the company from being absorbed by Vivendi.

Vivendi began to purchase shares in Ubisoft and mobile publisher Gameloft late last year, and quickly upped its stake in both companies. This month, Vivendi was forced by French law to submit a takeover bid to Gameloft after increasing its stake in the firm to over 30 percent.

After Vivendi's initial buy, however, Guillemot promised to "fight to preserve our independence." He told The Globe and Mail that he hopes to block Vivendi from making changes to the company's board at its next shareholders meeting in September.

Guillemot has met with the premier of Quebec, the newspaper reports; we also knew that he spoke to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today, too -- just not exactly why. It seems extremely likely this takeover attempt was a topic of discussion, as Ubisoft, though based in France, employs over 3,000 in Canada.
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Bell and Rogers joint partnership to own some of Ubisoft confirmed. It's downhill from here folks.

But on a more serious note, I hope they get the funding. Quebec and Ubisoft with its tax breaks for Game development paved the way for the huge boon of Canadian developers in that province and I'm sure Trudeau will grant some funding since Ubisoft Montreal, Quebec, And Toronto provide thousands of jobs to Canadians.
 
Hopefully they succeed, Vivendi needs to backoff and stick with gameloft.. :|
 
Keyser Soze said:
Maybe if he climbs to the top of the CN Tower the location of the investors will be revealed
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kSasksu.jpg
 
I'm not Canadian.

I have no money.

But anyway... I really hope this strategy works. It would be awful if one of the giants of this industry was taken over by another one. Say what you will about Ubisoft but they are extremely consistent and willing to take (measured) risks. EA, Vivendi, and Activision - I guarantee - would never have taken a chance on a game like Black Flag or Far Cry Primal.
 
Silexx said:
Motherfucker just pledged to bail out Bombardier for $1 billion US! I think Quebec should be plenty appeased by that.
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Oh really!? I think the 2400 employees in Quebec that are losing their jobs at Bombardier would beg to differ!
 
BY2K said:
Oh really!? I think the 2400 employees in Quebec that are losing their jobs at Bombardier would beg to differ!
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Which just furthers my point against the government continuing the subsidizing of corporations in Quebec. 😜
 
I don't know enough about this sort of thing but if a firm's management was so vehemently opposed to a takeover shouldn't they be able to oppose or prevent it somehow?

When I say that I mean in a more formal litigious manner, not getting your best buds help you buy other shares back
 
AHA-Lambda said:
I don't know enough about this sort of thing but if a firm's management was so vehemently opposed to a takeover shouldn't they be able to oppose or prevent it somehow?

When I say that I mean in a more formal litigious manner, not getting your best buds help you buy other shares back
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Not really, people have shares and if they want to sell at a certain price, buy them before Vivendi do.
 
Silexx said:
Motherfucker just pledged to bail out Bombardier for $1 billion US! I think Quebec should be plenty appeased by that.
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yeah what a bailout, my buddy works there and they're doing layoffs in Montreal and shipping the jobs elsewhere for the next 2 years. With bailouts like that, you wont go far.
 
Do you guys actually want the federal goverment of Canada to nationalize Ubisoft? Goodness gracious.

I don't think he's asking for a bailout anyway, which is probably wise since the company isn't headquartered in Canada, maybe just tax breaks. I think he just wants more Canadian shareholders, probably large investors, which isn't a great fit right now given the state of the dollar.
 
His whole idea before he became prime minister was that he would invest in Canada since interest rates are low, and diversify our economy. Buying some UbiShares fits that idea.
 
Investors must be happy about Vivendi's share purchases of Ubisoft because it's been propping up the share value. 60%+ increase since Vivendi announcement in October
 
I seem to recall that Ubi already gets a bunch of tax grants and benefits from the Quebec government for their offices and money being pumped into the local economy, which they proudly crow about in their press releases.

This is just the next logical step.
 
crazyrabbits said:
I seem to recall that Ubi already gets a bunch of tax grants and benefits from the Quebec government for their offices and money being pumped into the local economy, which they proudly crow about in their press releases.

This is just the next logical step.
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I'm not an expert but my understanding is the province gave Ubisoft (and other developers) a grant worth over a third of labour costs, but the new government dialed that back quite a bit in 2014.

So this might not be Ubisoft not asking Quebec to take a "next logical step" but more asking for a previous break to be reinstated.
 
HanzSnubSnub said:
His whole idea before he became prime minister was that he would invest in Canada since interest rates are low, and diversify our economy. Buying some UbiShares fits that idea.
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The governement isn't in the business of being shares unless it's a financial bailou (ex: GM)t. Ubisoft doesn't want a bailout. They just want people with big pockets buying shares so Vivandi won't be able to. They're probably targetting big canadian pension funds.

As said above, the Caisse de dépôt et placements would make sense considering Ubisoft has such a big presence in Quebec.
 
jholmes said:
I'm not an expert but my understanding is the province gave Ubisoft (and other developers) a grant worth over a third of labour costs, but the new government dialed that back quite a bit in 2014.

So this might not be Ubisoft not asking Quebec to take a "next logical step" but more asking for a previous break to be reinstated.
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Well, I could certainly see it happening. If Trudeau was at Ubi's offices yesterday, then there's probably something in the works.
 
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