Ubisoft is interested in several international investment funds

Will Ubisoft be the next major video game player to be acquired? According to sources from Bloomberg and Kotaku, the French company would indeed arouse the interest of several investment funds. Among the latter, Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co, two of the largest companies in the world, are currently studying the possibility of an acquisition of the publisher ofAssassin’s Creed. An operation which is however far from being recorded and which is, for the moment, only one scenario among others.

An interest for Ubisoft

According to Bloomberg, two giants in capital investment are therefore analyzing the potential of a takeover of Ubisoft. According to the newspaper’s sources, however, internal deliberations are only at their beginning and no offer has yet been made. Moreover, the newspaper specifies, discussions between Ubisoft and investment funds do not exist to date, which tends to prove the very early nature of the file at Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co.

On the side of Kotaku, the position is a little more pronounced. According to the magazine, Ubisoft has been working for several years with consulting companies for audits of its activities. An approach that Kotaku sources interpret as Ubisoft’s desire to clean up its accounts to facilitate its resale. A bias that Ubisoft does not recognize in a response sent by e-mail.

We do not comment on rumors or speculation. Ubisoft has unrivaled creative and production capabilities, with more than 20,000 talented people collaborating on game development in our global studios. Thanks to them, our long-term approach and our willingness to take creative risks, we have built some of the strongest proprietary brands in the industry and we have many promising brands and projects on the horizon. We also have one of the deepest and most diverse portfolios in the industry, cutting-edge services and technologies, and a large and growing community of engaged gamers. Therefore, we are ideally positioned to take advantage of the rapid industry growth and platform opportunities that present themselves.

But a redemption far from concrete

So is Ubisoft about to be bought out? We are still far from it.

First of all because Ubisoft’s position is unclear. Yves Guillemot has already rejected a takeover attempt by Vivendi in the past and it is not clear that he wants to sell his company more today. According to Bloomberg, the Guillemot family owns about 15% of Ubisoft, which is valued at around 5 billion euros, and the operation will be difficult to pass without its agreement.

Next, buyout studies are the very basis of the activity of investment funds. To put it simply, the latter have no other purpose than to invest substantial sums in growing companies in order to realize capital gains during a potential resale. The acquisition or stake in a company is therefore the daily life of these firms, which see files of this kind passing through every day.

However, if the interest is manifest and that these investment funds study hundreds of scenarios each year, it is not certain that the profits are sufficient to justify going to the end of a buyback operation. And the Ubisoft case is hardly different. Today no offer is transmitted and investment funds only study the interest of an acquisition. In other words, we are far from an operation with a near outcome.

Finally, in recent years, the video game industry has been in full swing. From the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft to that of Bungie by Sony, it seems that the consolidation of the sector will continue in the coming months. Therefore, it is logical that a company like Ubisoft, which owns some of the most popular and profitable licenses in video games, attracts covetousness.

Especially since the firm is shaken by internal scandals and a transformation of some of these flagship licenses. Ubisoft has also lost nearly 40% of its stock market value over the past three years. A context necessarily favorable to equity investments or a takeover and which gives a stronger echo to the news of the day.

Because what you need to remember for now is simply that Ubisoft is of interest to the greats of this world. And that is ultimately far from new.