It is reported that Ubisoft is Open to acquisition from private equity firms.
Acquisition is the word of the day with companies being bought out left right and centre.
Bloomberg claims that Ubisoft is collecting “buyout interest” from various sources. The surprising thing is that these sources are not the big names we expect such as Sony or Microsoft, but rather private equity firms such as KKR & Co and Blackstone inc.
These and other private equity firms have yet to initiate formal negotiations, but preliminary discussions are said to be underway.
With assets of about $880 million, Blackstone is one of the top leveraged buyout investors of the last 30 years. The Bellagio resort in Las Vegas, a majority ownership in Spanx, Ancestry.com, and a controversial purchase in Swedish oat milk business Oatly are just a few of its ventures.
Ubisoft is still under a cloud of controversy though surrounding the sexual discrimination and abuse allegations resulting in its shares falling dramatically in the last few years.
Both KKR & Co and Blackstone inc are still contemplating whether this buyout would profit them and it is said that they have both not entered serious negotiations yet.
This news comes as a bit of a surprise as Ubisoft has fought to stay independent and even went as far as to fight off a hostile takeover from Vivendi who eventually backed off.
Earlier this year though Ubisoft stated it was open to reviewing any possible requests for acquisitions.
Blackstone and KKR representatives declined to comment to Bloomberg, while Ubisoft noted that it has established a robust portfolio and is “ideally positioned to capitalize on emerging opportunities amid rapid growth in the industry”.
Ubisoft in its entirety is a very enticing company to buy out because of its extensive library of IP and also its extensive list of talent across its many studios globally. The list of games under Ubisoft’s belt includes a brand-new Star Wars game, a James Cameron’s Avatar adaptation, Rainbow Six: Siege, Watch Dogs, and even Assassin’s Creed.
What will happen next is anyone’s guess but this news is interesting as it is an unexpected way to go for a major game developer to be bought out by smaller equity firms instead of other large gaming companies. Is this a result of Ubisoft’s stubbornness in staying independent? Or will things change and the company will eventually be bought out by a gaming giant?
All we can do now is wait and watch to see how things turn out and you can bet we will be watching this news carefully.