Tencent bets on Ubisoft with €300 million purchase
Chinese tech firm Tencent has increased its stake in the holding company that owns most private Ubisoft stock with a nearly 300 million euro purchase. Originally acquiring a 5% stake in Ubisoft in 2018, Tencent now owns a stake both in the Guillemot Brothers Limited holding company and Ubisoft proper that amounts to about 11% of total shares. Some 80% of shares are held by the public.
The holding company (Guillemot Brothers Limited) is still owned primarily by the Guillemot brothers, and partially owned by cofounder and current CEO of Ubisoft, Yves Guillemot. Tencent now holds a 49.9% stake in that company, as well as servicing a loan for a long-term refinancing of its internal debt. Despite this recent purchase and other financial ties, the Guillemot family has stressed that this is not a takeover, and overall Tencent will only command 5% voting rights in the holding company.
Year on year Tencent stock is down some 40%, and Ubisoft stock some 30%. As Tencent tries to recover from internal market limits on videogame consumption among young adults and children, it has sped up its acquisition in foreign firms and now holds stakes in Riot Games, Epic Games, Activision Blizzard and recently an investment in FromSoftware.
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