Second bidder for Codemasters as competition hots up
Another suitor has come forward to buy the globally successful Leamington Spa video games developer Codemasters.
California-based Electronic Arts Inc (EA) has reached agreement with Codemasters for its indirect subsidiary Codex Games Limited to buy the business for a consideration of £945 million - a cool £220 million more than the offer last month from Take-Two Interactive Software, the New York-based developer, publisher and marketer of interactive entertainment for consumers. That sale would have been work £725 million.
Take-Two develops and publish products through labels Rockstar Games, 2K and Private Division, as well as Social Point. Since then, there has been some criticism that Codemasters had undervalued itself.
The board of directors of Codemasters confirmed that it has withdrawn its recommendation of the offer for Codemasters made by Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc and that it intends unanimously to recommend the EA Offer.
Gerhard Florin, Chairman of Codemasters, said: "Electronic Arts and Codemasters have a shared ambition to lead the video game racing category. The Board of Codemasters firmly believes the company would benefit from EA's knowledge, resources and extensive global scale - both overall and specifically within the racing sector. We feel this union would provide an exciting and prosperous future for Codemasters, allowing our teams to create, launch and service bigger and better games to an extremely passionate audience."
EA said it believed the combination of EA and Codemasters creates an opportunity to deliver further growth and success for Codemasters' and EA's popular and innovative franchises.
Andrew Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of EA, said:"We believe there is a deeply compelling opportunity in bringing together Codemasters and EA to create amazing and innovative new racing games for fans. Our industry is growing, the racing category is growing, and together we will be positioned to lead in a new era of racing entertainment. We have admired Codemasters' creative talent and high-quality games for many years. With the full leverage of EA's technology, platform expertise, and global reach, this combination will allow us to grow our existing franchises and deliver more industry-defining racing experiences to a global fan base. We are pleased that both our Boards of Directors are recommending this transaction, and we look forward to welcoming such an exciting and talented team to the EA family."
Related Story:
https://www.businessinnovationmag.co.uk/codemasters-in-talks-to-sell-to-new-york-video-games-publisher/
