Industry
Tencent will finally not buy Ubisoft but will invest 300 million euros in the company
After strong rumors about a possible purchase of the French company by the Chinese multinational, an investment agreement has finally been reached.
During the last few months, the possibility of Ubisoft being acquired by Tencent, the Chinese multinational technology company with a large participation in the video game industry in its country and worldwide, has been strongly rumored. Ubisoft, for its part, has been looking for a major investor to support its new projects financially, and Tencent seemed a strong candidate. Finally, the Chinese company made an investment of 300 million euros (around 297 millon dollars), thus acquiring 49.9% of Guillemot Brothers Limited, taking a prominent position within the Ubisoft organization chart at a cost of 80 euros per share.
Tencent positions itself as a major Ubisoft investor
Thus, the Chinese multinational manages to gain a prominent position within the company led by the founders of Ubisoft, namely the Guillemot family. However, Ubisoft still retains control, as Tencent will not have a seat on the board of directors of the French company, nor will it have voting power in its business decisions. Or at least not directly.
However, with this investment, Tencent does manage to acquire 9.99% of Ubisoft's capital, doubling the percentage they had until now. With this new agreement, it seems that Ubisoft discards the options of purchase by third parties, in this case, Tencent, giving more presence to the Chinese conglomerate without giving up the helm in any case.
Some of the clauses do not allow the sale of such shares before five years by Tencent; in the event of doing so, the Guillemots will have priority to buy them back. On the other hand, Tencent will not be able to increase its capital in Ubisoft beyond the current 9.99% before the next eight years, thus vetoing a possible future purchase during that period of time.
For its part, the Guillemot family can now increase its stake in Ubisoft to a maximum percentage of 29.9%, all this to give the French company essential stability for its upcoming projects, in the words of its managers.
Source | Ubisoft