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picked this up today off gamespot:
On Sunday, mainstream London newspaper The Daily Telegraph ran an article saying UK publisher SCi Entertainment “may be poised to make an eleventh-hour bid” for the Lara Croft creator. The piece said that “it is believed that SCi is currently carrying out due diligence that may lead to a formal bid for Eidos as early as this week.”
While almost entirely unsubstantiated, the Telegraph article did cause Eidos’ stock to rise 9.46 percent on Monday, climbing $0.07 to $0.81. The spike came despite a looming deadline from Eidos’ primary creditor, the Royal Bank of Scotland. The financial institution extended a 23 million-pound load to the game publisher earlier this year–funds which will run out as of this Friday, March 25. Eidos will need to land “alternative financing” or be bought out by that time to avoid possible bankruptcy.
However, while it singled out SCi, which many industry watchers believe doesn’t have the funds required to resurrect Eidos, the Telegraph also listed a number of other potential buyers. Those included the previously rumored buyers Elevation Partners, the venture-capital group headed in part by U2 lead singer Bono, and French publisher Ubisoft.
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actually scratch that, heres more up to date info
Just one day after the well-regarded British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported that Eidos was being pursued by SCi Entertainment, Reuters is reporting the publisher has been sold…to a totally different company. The wire service is reporting that late today, Eidos accepted an offer from Elevation Partners. Headed by a board of directors that includes U2 lead singer Bono, Elevation Partners has been a rumored Eidos buyer for several months, along with French publisher Ubisoft and now SCi.
According to Reuters, Elevation Partners made Eidos an offer it couldn’t refuse: 71 million pounds ($135 million) in cash, or 50p ($0.95) per share. The price was more than 5p ($0.095) higher than the 44.75p ($0.85) at which Eidos’ stock closed on Monday, following a surge sparked by the Telegraph article.
The Reuters article revealed Eidos had been entertaining a 53p ($1.00) per share offer earlier this month from an unnamed buyer. However, the looming March 25 deadline for future financing set by Eidos’ primary lender, the Royal Bank of Scotland, apparently forced the company to accept a less-favorable deal. The pressure was no doubt accelerated by the six-month earnings report issued last week, which outlined how the company suffered a 26.5 million pound ($50.23 million) operating loss.
For its part, Eidos was largely mum on the transaction. “The board firmly believes that shareholders’ interests are best served by a sale of the company,” company chairman John van Kuffeler said in a statement. American representatives of the company declined to further comment
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i happy that Eidos will survive now, in some shape or form, and i’m glad it was not Rupert Murdoch’s company ;)
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ya its good news alright.
but will bono be wanting a game i wonder?
could have called it “Messiah”.
Only there was a game before called that, right?
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According to Gamesindustry.biz, SCi have madea 53.6p per share offer. Might wonder into work tomorrow to see whats happening.
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just saw “Working Lunch” on BBC2
it had Eidos shares on their front page examples ..
up 4p
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Holy crap!!
Some people must have made a killing on Eidos shares. They’d plummeted down to under 32p on the 17th, now they’re up to 58.5p and are still going up. Knew I should have bought some! -
The Sun ran an article on this today. Of course, as expected from such a rag, they were more focused on the ‘Bono set to buy Lara Croft’ angle.
Not sure of all the facts but I’d rather Sci owning Eidos than some investment firm who know nothing about game development and publishing.
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Did they mention Miss Crofts ample breasts?
……of course they did…..
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ya i still dont know whats going on there.
i read again this morning (i think slashdot), that sci had upped their bid to 74.1million (elevation parthers being 74million).
http://www.elevation.com
Also i wouldnt right off elevation not knowing about games development, one of the main members of this group is John Riccitiello, former ceo and president of EA.Although the rest couldnt be further from the “game”, see what i did they ;-)
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*tumbleweed*
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in fairness if the buy can turn eidos back to what it used to be in its hay day. They will have bought it for a song.
i suspect we will know fairly soon, isnt the RBS deadline for repayment of their lent 25-26 million march 25-26. Thats the end date i suppose for bidding right?
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Guess they had to make room for more fascinating articles such as Britney gaining a few pounds[/quote:ffa47b190c]
Wha???? Britney has gained a few pounds???? Are you serious……
I think Eidos will be better off being bought by Elevation, for the simple fact that they aren’t a games company. Elevation will probably allow them more creative control over their games than if a games company like SCI takeover and basically try to do things their way. Thats just my speculative mind speaking though……
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Possibly. Or maybe Elevation will manipulate them to suit their needs. Perhaps one of their clients will want their name plastered all over Eidos games. I certainly won’t be surprised if Elevation will be the ones to make in-game advertising mainstream.
I just can’t see some investment company sitting by and letting the staff be creative. Innovation is risky and proven formulas are significantly more likely to succeed in the current market. I’ll need some convincing that Elevation are any better than Murdoch taking over.
You never know. Maybe you’re right, Dave. I know I’ll be backing Sci.
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Maybe I’m being a bit naive. You make valid points, and maybe someone like SCI coming in and ruling the roost will be good for Eidos because some of their decision making in the recent past has been poor, hence the problems they are in now.
So a breath of fresh air should be good for them, and maybe becoming part of SCI will add to that. Its hard to tell, either way whichever party buys them, it is better then going under!
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I know I’ll be backing SCi.[/quote:ccce212f53]
I’m not. Go Elevation!
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yeah i agree with the point that maybe a non-games group might let them do what they want. sci probably will want to turn them like some of their studios
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I’m backing Davids Lad, once the going is soft.
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I’ll back the one that lets me keep my job :D
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You could always come over here and work for me as my butler?
One thing though, would you be willing to change your name to “Jeeves”?
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Do I get to dress like a penguin???
count me in!!
sweet, i might even get paid overtime!!!
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Yes, you get a penguin suit, which must be worn at ALL TIMES.
Sorry, I don’t pay overtime. However I do offer some generous share options.Also, there will be some “crunch” time involved, when I host my bi-monthly cocktail parties.
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News is in from the east…
Sci pick up 20% of Eidos:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=7623
There’s an interesting bit at the end:
the firm (Elevation) has indicated that it plans on keeping quite a bit of the existing management structure in place at the publisher, unlike SCi, which has been quite clear about its intent to make major changes at its Wimbledon-based rival.
Related Articles [/quote:8d04139db6]
Fantastic. The management brought the company to its knees, but hey, let’s not change a thing and give them another chance.There will be some interesting questions to answer when the company is bought. Will Lara Croft be returning to Core Design? What’s next for the Deus Ex franchise? Exciting times ahead.
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i bought some shares in eidos yesterday because i was looking to find a nice investment. i reckon if the price war continues they might amount to a nice sum of money. heres hoping.
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While your at it, may I recommend some shares in Eircom. Top dollar!
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yeah.yeah.. i only bought a small amount.
i reckon its a good buy ive been watching them for a while now, 28p week before last, 63p now. that 100% increase. if elevation partners buy then they will probably be able to keep their creativity, if sci buy then they probably wont and the shares could be in trouble. i personally think elevation have the capital to beat sci if they want to. just look at the people involved with them.
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Suprised no one mentioned this yesterday…only jsut found the news now as I was busy yesterday.
SCi have a committed 26% of shares and Elevation need to have 75% to make the company private like they want. -
ya i saw that alright in the paper. i still think elevation partners might be the better arrangement. that way sci wont come in and change eidos so it dissolves into SCI
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John Riccitiello’s not a happy bunny
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nice move in the shares today, up 5
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Its good it see its all going well…
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Core have a new site up…
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Thats been up for ages!
And apparently the game’s in Edge this month, sitting beside Ico 2 -
Thats been up for ages!
And apparently the game’s in Edge this month, sitting beside Ico 2 -
Could you repeat that……didn’t quite catch it the first time… :p
I’m hoping that Elevation can somehow get the support of the remaining shareholders…..its not going to effect me directly, obviously, but I think SCi could really screw around with Eidos if they buy them.
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It doesn’t matter if Elevation get the support of the remaining share-holders. They want to make the company private and legally need 75% support. They currently need to make a change to their offer which is for 50p a share when the share-price is currently 66p or so. They need to make a big change in their offer.
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i personally hope who ever gets it keeps the share price up. its up 10p now! booya! roll on 80p.
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Thats been up for ages!
And apparently the game’s in Edge this month, sitting beside Ico 2 [/quote:f3d95a673d]smart bomb? i think that was previewed either last issue or the one before
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Well I hope nothing happens to Core – cause I’ll soon have two mates there…
Damo – he got the job. Man Eidos are slooooooooooooooooooow with the hiring process.
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I told you…I was told I had the job March and got officially told in June.
Looks like its going to be SCi now. Eidos have recommended their offer.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=7861 -
Elevation Partners withdraws its offer for Eidos
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pity that SCI won I thought that Elevation Partners would be a good owner.
although it will be interested to see if SCI can restructure Eidos into their existing business like they promised. Seems to me its hard enough dissolving a smaller company into your business, but to dissolve a company which is much larger than yourself and probably more well known world wide. Maybe SCI should dissolve the exisiting SCI into Eidos and keep the Eidos brand :-)
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