Codemasters Agrees to $1.25 Billion Electronic Arts Takeover -- Update

By Ian Walker

Shares of Codemasters Group Holdings PLC rose 19% in early trade Monday after the company said that it agreed to a 945 million-pound ($1.25 billion) cash takeover from Electronic Arts Inc., and has therefore withdrawn its recommendation for an offer from Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.

Under the deal, accepting shareholders of the U.K. videogames developer and publisher will get 604 pence for each share held. The offer price is a 13% premium to Friday's closing price of 534 pence.

Shares in Codemasters at 0845 GMT were up 101.0 pence, or 19%, at 635.0 pence.

"The board of Codemasters firmly believes the company would benefit from EA's knowledge, resources and extensive global scale--both overall and specifically within the racing sector," Chairman Gerhard Florin said.

Take-Two said Monday following the news that it is considering its position in relation to Codemasters and would make a further announcement when appropriate.

On Nov. 10, Codemasters agreed to a GBP759 million takeover offer from Take-Two. Under that deal, accepting shareholders were due to get 120 pence in cash and 0.2834 new Take-Two shares for each Codemasters share held.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 14, 2020 04:16 ET (09:16 GMT)

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