Ubisoft may receive government backing against EA

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http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/041230/323/f9e6u.html



PARIS (AFX) - Ubi Soft Entertainment SA could receive government support in its fight against the threat of a takeover by US video games giant Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS - news) , La Tribune newspaper reported without naming its sources.

The government has been watchful for several months about the health of French video games studios, of which around 20 work for Ubisoft, the financial daily said.

The heads of the studios fear that a purchase of Ubisoft by EA would lead to the disappearance of the last decision making centre in France for the video games industry, La Tribune added.

Ubisoft said last night it is not in talks 'at present' with EA about the US company's recent purchase of a stake.

'In light of recent news spread by the press, Ubisofts board of directors reiterates that, in the absence of information from Electronic Arts regarding its intentions, the latter's acquisition of 19.9 pct of the groups capital is unsolicited and currently considered as hostile,' the company said.
'Moreover, it states that there are no negotiations between the two parties at present,' Ubisoft said.

Les Echos newspaper reported yesterday that Ubisoft will gather together some of its largest shareholders next week in a bid to convince them not to throw their weight behind EA.

EA bought its holding on Dec 20 from Talpa Beheer BV, the investment vehicle of Dutch financier John de Mol.

Les Echos said Ubisoft is considering several options to defend itself against its American rival, including increasing the holding of the Guillemot family, who, the newspaper said, have 17.5 pct of shares and 26.6 pct of voting rights.

France's other video games manufacturer, Infogrames Entertainment SA (Paris: FR0000052573 - news) , owner of the Atari (NASDAQ: ATAR - news) brand, is currently seeking approval for a financial restructuring.
An EGM on Dec 21 to vote on the debt refinancing plan was inquorate and has been postponed until Jan 19.

The company is proposing to buy back 117 mln eur in Oceane 2005 convertible bonds with a combination of cash and shares, in conjunction with a 1-for-2 warrant offer entitling shareholders to buy new stock at 1.11 eur per share.
 
I can't wait to see how this whole thing turns out. As long as Ubisoft ends up benefiting and keeping it's identity and name, I'll be happy.
 
While I'm 100% for this, it just seems like the way they are going about this is like some bitches. Could just be me though
 
Agent Icebeezy said:
While I'm 100% for this, it just seems like the way they are going about this is like some bitches. Could just be me though

I wouldn't go so far as to say they're being bitches. If the government is getting onboard, it's just another instance of protectionism. We see it in many parts of the world when it comes to automobiles, where certain types are conspicuously absent from a given market. Canada does it with the CRTC, which ensures a certain amount of entertainment broadcasted, and in print, is of Canadian content, and so forth. If the French Government wants to make sure that a certain portion of their game industry is wholly French-owned that's their perogative.
 
Mr Nash said:
I wouldn't go so far as to say they're being bitches. If the government is getting onboard, it's just another instance of protectionism. We see it in many parts of the world when it comes to automobiles, where certain types are conspicuously absent from a given market. Canada does it with the CRTC, which ensures a certain amount of entertainment broadcasted, and in print, is of Canadian content, and so forth. If the French Government wants to make sure that a certain portion of their game industry is wholly French-owned that's their perogative.
IAWTP.
 
Mr Nash said:
I wouldn't go so far as to say they're being bitches. If the government is getting onboard, it's just another instance of protectionism. We see it in many parts of the world when it comes to automobiles, where certain types are conspicuously absent from a given market. Canada does it with the CRTC, which ensures a certain amount of entertainment broadcasted, and in print, is of Canadian content, and so forth. If the French Government wants to make sure that a certain portion of their game industry is wholly French-owned that's their perogative.

I can agree with this, also, isn't Codemasters from around there?
 
As the article pointed out, Ubisoft are the last wholly-French game company left...that's why the government might step in. If they were one of even a half-dozen game companies that were 100% French, they probably wouldn't care.

I'd probably laugh out loud if EA enlisted the help of a Rumsfield or Cheany to get the buyout done :lol...it'd almost be fitting.
 
FYI Ubisoft represents about 40% of all the videogames workers in France, a very big reason why the government is ever so watchful about this hostile takeover attempt.
The videogame industry in France is in a horrible state right now and the gov had already put a few millions euros in some promising studios last year (Frederick Raynal's f4toys being one of them), they certainly won't let EA buy them like that and do what they did with every other company they bought (or should I say killed ?).
 
I'm not really surprised. The French government is very involved in the economy, and owns & directly supports dozens of them. It's something that the citizens of france also prefer, to the US only having two government-owned businesses.

Not that Ubi is owned by the government, but being the key french studio in the growing game industry definitely plays a role in the government's decision to protect it.
 
Consolidation is bad for this industry -- period.

Soon games will be as boring and repetitive (as they are already heading) as hollywood's movies. Gaming going mainstream is the last thing I ever wanted.

What makes matters worse is that it's EA doing the consolidating. If it were Nintendo or a larger developer that had some kind of passion for games, things might not be so bad.
 
How did Ubisoft get any work done when the French government was enforcing 35 hour work weeks?

I really have to wonder if EA makes any money off their buyouts directly, or of they just do it to run the competition into the ground.
 
EA may not want to buy Ubisoft, they may be taking a 20% stake to block someone else from taking over/merging with Ubisoft. Rumor in the UK was that Ubisoft was after EIDOS and then EA stepped in and EIDOS gave them the finger. With this move, EA has a voting interest on Ubisof'st board and might vote not to acquire EIDOS so they can take it. They just have enough interest to screw with Ubisoft enough until they take over the rest of Europe. EA games sell very well in Europe, anything with EA name sells well. They're evil and probably thinking about eliminating the major European players so they have the field to themselves. They can sell their sports titles in the U.S. and their other junk (the stuff that doesn't stack up well in the U.S.) to Europe.
 
EA can just sit and wait. They can't be forced to sell their stock.
Actually...Ubisoft is a French company, and if the French government wants EA out, they can do whatever they want...including invalidating the stock purchase or forcing them to sell it back to either Ubi or the government.

Basically, if you want to do something in a country, and your the one that makes the laws...well, you can do anything you want. :P
 
hooo said:
How did Ubisoft get any work done when the French government was enforcing 35 hour work weeks?

Ubisoft is not just located in France. Where do you think Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia comes from? :p
 
hooo said:
How did Ubisoft get any work done when the French government was enforcing 35 hour work weeks?
Believe me, the game developers in France work as much as anywhere else in the world. "Enforcing" is something you can only do when the workers actually want to work as little as possible, which is definitely not the case in the game development world.
I do not develop games, but I work about 50-60 hours a week and unless I go complain to some work agency about this (and then more or less kill the company I work for) I just don't see what the government could do about it. They can't force me to work less !
And the current government certainly does not want to enforce the 35 hours/week thing, it's something the previous gov did they would change back if they could.
 
"Actually...Ubisoft is a French company, and if the French government wants EA out, they can do whatever they want...including invalidating the stock purchase or forcing them to sell it back to either Ubi or the government."

No they can't.
 
CrimsonSkies said:
"Actually...Ubisoft is a French company, and if the French government wants EA out, they can do whatever they want...including invalidating the stock purchase or forcing them to sell it back to either Ubi or the government."

No they can't.
It's not as easy as what's written there, but the government can do a lot of things to prevent such a hostile takeover. It's happened quite a few times in the past.
 
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