Take-Two's Codemasters acquisition agreed for £750m

Update: Take-Two is going forward with their proposed Codemasters acquisition with finalisation plans scheduled for next year. 

Reported by VGC, the Codemasters acquisition has seen a mild increase in asking price from the initial proposal of £740 million. In a massive turn, Take-Two will be buying the Byproduct British company for £750 million.

This is what Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said regarding the Codemasters acquisition:

“We are exceedingly pleased to announce this recommended transaction with the Board of Codemasters.

“Codemasters has a renowned history of creating some of our industry’s most beloved and commercially successful racing franchises, and we believe that their offerings will be highly complementary to our sports portfolio and enhance further our organization’s long-term growth.

“Moreover, we look forward to welcoming Codemasters’ senior management and development teams into our Take-Two family, and sharing in our vision to deliver the highest quality entertainment experiences and aim to be the most innovative, creative and efficient company in our industry.”

ORIGINAL STORY: 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.