Take-Two Expects to Acquire Codemasters

The well-known game publisher ‘Take-Two’ is negotiating with Codemasters on the acquisition.

In an information note to investors Codemasters announced an acquisition agreement with Take-Two, they have received an non-binding offer of pence 485 per share (of which pence 120 will be paid in cash and the rest will be paid in shares) for a total price of approximately £739 million. (Approximately US$973 million).

Negotiations between the two companies are still on-going, Take-Two has not yet submitted a final offer, and some details (such as the payment ratio of cash and shares) may still be revised.

Take-Two needs to commit to make a takeover offer for Codemasters by December 4 at the latest, this is subject to approval by the regulatory authority too. Take-Two said in a statement: “We believe that the combination of Take-Two and Codemaster will bring together the two world-class interactive entertainment products. It is a complementary fit between Take-Two’s 2K publishing label and Codemasters in the racing genre."

"In addition, Take-Two believes that it can bring benefits to Codemasters' performance by leveraging Take-Two's global distribution network and 2K’s core operating expertise in publishing, including live operations, analytics, product development, and brand and performance marketing."

Take-Two has approximately 6000 employees worldwide, including 4600 developers. In September this year, Take-Two just acquired Playdots, the publisher of the mobile game "Two Dots", for US$200 million.

Codemasters is a British game company that specializes in developing racing games. It has about 750 employees. Its representative works include the "Dust" and "F1 Racing" series.