Ubisoft to buy 4 million shares to protect against Vivendi takeover
Ubisoft will buy up to 4 million of its own shares to prevent its takeover by the French media conglomerate Vivendi.
Ubisoft announced the launch of the share buyback program in a statement to shareholders. 4 million shares roughly correspond to 10% of the company’s capital. The deal should be fully completed by the end of December this year.
After the repurchase, the shares are canceled so that they are not bought by Vivendi or another interested company.
The Guillemot family, which founded Ubisoft, has been resisting the prospect of a takeover of their company by Vivendi Corporation for several years.
Vivendi currently owns a 27% stake in Ubisoft. When this share reaches 30%, according to French law Vivendi will be obliged to buy out Ubisoft in full.
However, according to Bloomberg, Vivendi is still not sure whether to absorb Ubisoft or sell the excess shares.
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