Ubisoft jumps on report Tencent seeks bigger stake
04/08/2022 14:48
(Updates with analyst comments, share price move)
** Shares in Ubisoft UBIP.PA soar nearly 15% after Reuters
reported China's Tencent 0700.HK planned to raise its stake in
the French video game maker, citing four sources with direct
knowledge of the matter urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2YP2FP
** Tencent, which has a 5% stake in Ubisoft, could offer up
to 100 euros ($101.84) per share, two of the sources with
knowledge of the internal discussions said
** Tencent and Ubisoft declined to comment
** Tencent's interest in Ubisoft "is a vote of confidence
from a very astute investor", Wedbush Securities analyst Michael
Pachter says
** He adds that there are "clear" synergies for both, such
as Tencent can help with mobile and with development for games
intended for the Chinese market
** Shares in Guillemot Corporation GTCN.PA , which owns 15%
in Ubisoft, are up 8.4%
** Polish rival CD Projekt CDR.WA (+6%) also jumps on the
news, with Erste Group analyst Piotr Bogusz saying the
announcement of a potential next deal should have a positive
impact on investor sentiment towards the sector, where companies
are valued relatively low on EV/EBITDA and P/E ratios
(Reporting by Valentine Baldassari and Dagmarah Mackos)
((Valentine.baldassari@tr.com))