Take-Two is in talks to acquire Codemasters for £740m

Rockstar Games parent company Take-Two is currently in talks to purchase the UK- based game developer and publisher Codemasters.

Reported by VGC, the British games company predominantly known for their critically beloved racing games were offered a non-binding proposal to purchase the entire share capital of the company.

The report states that Codemasters has explained to shareholders that,  should Take-Two move forward in its decision to purchase the company, they believe all shareholders should accept the offer of sale.

While VGC didn’t report on Codemasters’ sale price to Take-Two,  The Times market reporter Tom Howard revealed that the current bid from Take-Two is £740 million,  £83 million above the company’s current market cap at the time of writing.

Codmasters #CDM confirms in talks over possible £740mln sale to Take-Two, the Rockstar Games owner. Mulling an offer of 485p in cash and shares. Seems a bit tight…

— Tom Howard (@tomhtimes) November 6, 2020

In a statement to VGC, Take-Two explained that it “believes that the combination of Take-Two and Codemasters would bring together two world-class interactive entertainment portfolios, with a highly complementary fit between 2K and Codemasters in the racing genre.”

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

Over the past few years, Codemasters has expanded substantially. The company recently acquired Project Cars developer Slightly Mad as well as Driveclub and Onrush developers Milestone who recently created Dirt 5.

The studio has also recently acquired the rights to become the official developers of WRC games.