A court has approved Japanese publisher Square Enix's takeover of British publisher Eidos, which is expected to become effective tomorrow morning.
The move will bring the Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Hitman franchises under the same roof as the likes of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, and give the Japanese publisher a stronger foothold in the western market.
On February 12 the two parties announced that they had reached agreement on the terms of the acquisition, and in late March Eidos shareholders overwhelmingly approved the takeover, with over 85 percent of shareholders representing 99.93 percent of Eidos shares voting for the resolution.
"The Board of Eidos is pleased to announce that the Court sanctioned the Scheme at the Court Hearing held today and that it also confirmed the associated Capital Reduction at that hearing," said the company in a statement this afternoon.
"As previously announced, the Scheme is expected to become effective on 22 April 2009 following the delivery of the Court Order to the Registrar of Companies and the registration by him of such Court Order."
Dealings in Eidos shares on the London Stock Exchange were suspended at 5.00 p.m. (London time) and will be cancelled at 8.00 a.m. on April 23, 2009.
This evening at 6.00 p.m. (London time) Eidos shareholders received 32 pence in cash for each Eidos share held.
I can't wait to see what square will do with the next tomb raider game, the series needs freshening up and they might be the ones to bring it out of it's slump
Well the latest one has sold quite a bit, more than so than the middle games but I don't think SE will get too involved if anything I can see the Crystal Tools engine being used for a lot more games.
Well the latest one has sold quite a bit, more than so than the middle games but I don't think SE will get too involved if anything I can see the Crystal Tools engine being used for a lot more games.
It did sell a decent amout, but were eidos not said to be disappointed that it didn't sell more?, it was after all released pretty close to christmas, a time when they would expect decent sales anyway?
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