According to what was declared by Bloomberg, Ubisoft Entertainment SA, the famous video game publisher to whom we owe, among others, the franchise of “Assassin’s Creed“, would have attracted preliminary interest for the acquisition by some acquisition funds.
This important news was shared on the well-known online portal mentioned above, with the information that was communicated directly to it by some sources who have first-hand knowledge of the matter.
And among those interested in the acquisition of Ubisoft, we find some private equity firms including Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co., who have already been able to analyze the French business. This at least according to the above sources, who have specifically asked not to be identified because the information is private.
Ubisoft could be acquired in the coming months
The report by Bloomberg then goes on to state that the French publisher has not yet started serious negotiations with potential buyers, and it is not even clear whether the main shareholder is willing to pursue the speeches in order to actually find an agreement for the sale.
The family of the president of Ubisoft, Yves Guillemot, is the company’s largest investor with a 15% stake, and according to Bloomberg, the publisher’s shares have fallen by 41% in exchanges in Paris over the past year, with a current market value of approximately 5.2 billion dollars.
The dialogues between the parties are also still at an early stage, and there is no certainty that none of the parties involved will proceed with the offers.
Precisely in this sense, the representatives of Blackstone and KKR declined to comment on the report while Ubisoft stated in a dedicated email that it has built a solid portfolio of franchises and is ideally positioned to take advantage of emerging opportunities in a rapidly growing industry.
The company declined to comment on any acquisition interest.
That said, although we are not faced with official news, the market has responded very positively to this important report, with the well-known analyst Daniel Ahmad, which revealed how the actions of Ubisoft have gone up by 11% following the publication of the Bloomberg report.