Gameloft board rejects Vivendi takeover offer

PARIS, Feb 29 (Reuters) - Gameloft GLFT.PA said on Monday
that its board had unanimously rejected an unsolicited takeover
bid by media group Vivendi VIV.PA as being against the
interests of the mobile video games maker and its shareholders.
The deal has no industrial logic and the offer of 6 euros a
share from Vivendi does not reflect the true value and future
potential of the company, Gameloft said in a statement. The bid,
below Gameloft's current share price, values the company at
around 513 million euros ($560 million).
Gameloft has said it considers Vivendi's building of a stake
of more than 30 percent to be hostile. The company's founding
Guillemot family in February lifted its own stake to 20.29
percent of the capital and 28.42 percent of the voting rights.
Vivendi, which has refocused its business around Universal
Music Group and pay-TV business Canal+ Group, wants to re-enter
the video games business to boost its position in the content
and media sector, having had to dispose of Activision Blizzard (O:ATVI)
in 2013 to reduce its debt pile.
Led by French tycoon Vincent Bollore, Vivendi also has a
holding of around 14.9 percent in Gameloft peer Ubisoft
UBIP.PA , founded by the same family.
Vivendi Chairman Bollore has said he ultimately wants to
build a European media powerhouse to compete with rivals from
pay-TV group Sky Plc SKYB.L to German radio and publishing
group Bertelsmann.
Gameloft said on Monday that it saw no potential cost
savings resulting from a takeover by Vivendi, which wants to
harness its content and distribution platforms for the two video
games makers' products.
Shares in Gameloft were continuing to trade above Vivendi's
offer price on Monday, up 0.3 percent at 6.83 euros by 0835 GMT.
Ubisoft stock was down 1.4 percent.
Ubisoft head Yves Guillemot recently told Canadian daily The
Globe & Mail that it was seeking investors in Canada, where it
employs over 3,000 people, to help fend off Vivendi's Bollore.
($1 = 0.9153 euros)