SCi Spurns Infogrames Buyout Bid

Posted by Kotaku US Edition at 6:00 AM on April 29, 2008

French Atari parent Infogrames wants to purchase Eidos parent SCi, and has already extended it a "financially disciplined" offer, Infogrames revealed today via a regulatory announcement.

However, says Infogrames: "The SCi Board has declined, at this stage, to entertain Infogrames' offer."


 

Infogrames is still raring to go on the bid, though, saying that it has "sufficient resources" to satisfy the offer, and adding it has also "secured commitments" that will help fund SCi's potential working capital requirements. "Importantly," the statement adds, "Infogrames is in a position to move expeditiously with its proposal."

The regulatory announcement suggests the door's still open on the proposal, though there are no guarantees:

"Whilst Infogrames has been considering a range of options, including but not limited to a potential merger with SCi, there can be no certainty that any offer will be made for SCi," said the statement in part, concluding with, "A further announcement may be made, if and when appropriate."

SCi recently got a shot in the arm in the form of a $120 million bailout from investor Warner Bros.,who increased its stake in the company to 20 percent. In the process, SCi gained access to couple WB licenses (Looney Toons, The OC, the Batman comics) — and, apparently, lost 25 percent of its staff as well as some current projects (flagship titles like Tomb Raider, Hitman, Deus Ex and Championship Manager are safe).

When approached for questions, a rep for SCi said he was unable to comment on the company's current business.

Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)

There are currently no AU comments for this post.

Post Your Comment

Kotaku Australia moderates comments to avoid spam and abuse. We're looking for comments that are interesting, substantial and/or highly amusing. HTML is not accepted.

You must supply a name and your email address.