Electronic Arts announces they have reached an agreement to purchase
Codemasters for approximately USD$1.2 billion. This confirms
yesterday's report that they
stepped in with a bid on the racing game developer. This is despite an
announcement last month that
Codemasters was being purchased by Take-Two Interactive. So this may not be over
yet, as
Take-Two responds by announcing: "Take-Two is considering its position in
relation to Codemasters and a further announcement will be made when
appropriate." Here's more on the EA bid:
Today, Electronic Arts Inc.
(NASDAQ: EA) announced that it has reached an agreement with the Board of
Codemasters for the recommended acquisition of Codemasters, the UK-based game
developer and publisher. In the transaction, Codemasters' shareholders will be
entitled to receive 604 pence (approximately US$7.98*) in cash for each ordinary
share of Codemasters with an implied enterprise value of US$1.2 billion*. The
acquisition is anticipated to be completed in the first quarter of calendar
2021.
“Electronic Arts and Codemasters have a shared ambition to lead the video game
racing category. The Board of Codemasters firmly believes the company would
benefit from EA’s knowledge, resources and extensive global scale – both overall
and specifically within the racing sector. We feel this union would provide an
exciting and prosperous future for Codemasters, allowing our teams to create,
launch and service bigger and better games to an extremely passionate audience,”
said Gerhard Florin, the Chairman of Codemasters.