Recently there have been many rumors regarding the buyout of Ubisoft, however, the latest reports suggest that the popular video game publisher is waiting for its share price to improve first.
According to Dealreporter, via Seeking Alpha, people who are close to the takeover discussions, as well as a number of shareholders, are saying that the price would need to rise to at least £60 or €70 per share before a deal would be considered.
Suggestions have gone as far up as €100 per share for the publisher due to its long-term potential.
Various reports have recently claimed that Ubisoft has gained the attention of numerous private equity firms such as Blackstone and KKR who are interested in purchasing the company most widely known as the publisher of the popular Assassin’s Creed franchise.
There are also rumors that the current owners of Ubisoft, the Guillemot family itself may buyout the company. The CEO Yves Guillemot told during the earnings call a couple of weeks ago that Ubisoft has everything needed to remain independent.
The current Ubisoft share price is €48.41. According to the data available, that price has been in decline since it reached its peak at €82.40 at the start of last year. In fact, the last time Ubisoft’s share price was above €60 was on July 7th, 2021 when it was €61.48 per share.
It is worth noting that during May 2021, the price was in decline, however, from March 2020 to May 2021, Ubisoft’s share price was constantly above €60. The Covid-19 pandemic was likely one of the factors that affected the price.
Prior to the Covid outbreak, Ubisoft’s stock price stuck around €60 or higher between January 2017 to September 2019, peaking at €102.95.
Alongside the news of buyer interest in Ubisoft, numerous reports have surfaced claiming that Electronic Arts has been pushing forward a sale for years now. According to the reports, the company has been increasing its efforts in this endeavor since Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard at $95 per share.
