NEWS - Monday, May 19, 2008
Offer Extended for Take-Two Buyout
Electronic Arts has further extended its offer to purchase all of Take-Two Interactive’s outstanding shares, pushing the deadline for the proposed deal to June 16.EA first made its buyout intentions public in February, offering $2 billion for the Grand Theft Auto IV, BioShock and 2K Sports publisher. Take-Two immediately rebuffed the proposal publicly but said it would enter into discussions with EA on April 30, after the release of GTA IV.
The latest offer was scheduled to expire on May 16, but EA said today that it has pushed that date to June 16 to allow the Federal Trade Commission to continue its examination of the proposed buyout.
"EA’s offer price remains unchanged at $25.74 per share and our offer is still subject to conditions that include regulatory approval. As stated earlier, we retain the right to terminate the offer if the conditions are not satisfied," said Owen Mahoney, senior vice president of corporate development at EA.
In a news release responding to EA’s offer extension, Take-Two executives said the deal continues to undercut the company’s worth, noting the recent record-breaking success of Grand Theft Auto IV and the publisher’s recent announcement that a feature film based on BioShock is in the works.
"This is the same highly conditional proposal that EA offered Take-Two stockholders on March 13, 2008, which our Board of Directors thoroughly reviewed and unanimously determined to be inadequate and contrary to the best interests of Take-Two’s stockholders," said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of the Board of Take-Two. "As such, the recommendation of our Board of Directors that stockholders not tender their shares to EA remains unchanged."
According to both companies, about 6 million Take-Two shares (about 8 percent of the whole) have been transferred to EA so far.
"The small number of shares tendered into EA’s offer to date demonstrates that our stockholders agree with what our Board has maintained from the beginning: EA’s proposal undervalues our Company," said Ben Feder, Take-Two’s CEO.
Source: http://www.ign.com
