Ubisoft reportedly unlikely to sell for less than €60 per share

gamesindustry.biz:

James Batchelor

Editor-in-Chief

Monday 23rd May 2022

Ubisoft

Rumours of a Ubisoft buyout continue, but a new report suggests the publisher is waiting until its share price improves.

According to Dealreporter, via Seeking Alpha, shareholders and people familiar with takeover discussions say the price would need to be at least €60 to €70 per share before a deal would be accepted.

A price of €100 per share has been suggested as a better value for the publisher due to its long-term prospects.

It's been reported in recent weeks that Ubisoft is attracting interest from private equity firms such as Blackstone and KKR, who are considering buying the Assassin's Creed publisher.

There were also reports that the Guillemot family may buy the company itself, with CEO Yves Guillemot telling investors during the most recent earnings call that Ubisoft has "everything we need to remain independent."

At the time of writing, the company's share price stands at €48.41, having been declining since the €82.40 reached at the start of the year.

The last time Ubisoft's stock was over €60 was July 7, 2021, when it reached €61.48 per share.

This followed a brief decline in May 2021, but prior to that the publisher was consistently above €60 per share from March 2020 to May 2021, although this is no doubt at least partially due to the boost from the pandemic.

Before the pandemic, Ubisoft's stock stayed at €60 or higher from January 2017 to September 2019, during which it reached a peak of €102.95.

News of buyer interest in Ubisoft comes alongside reports that Electronic Arts has been pursuing a sale for years, its efforts said to be increasing since Microsoft announced its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard at $95 per share.