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By Mathieu Rosemain and Leo Marchandon
(Reuters) -Ubisoft, the maker of the “Assassin’s Creed”, “Far Cry” and “Watch Dogs” video games, said on Monday it regularly reviewed “all its strategic options”, but declined further comment on a recent report of buyout interest.
France’s largest video games maker has long been seen as a takeover target and has lost half of its stock market value over the last twelve months. It has been plagued by delays and the underperformance of some of its key titles.
Ubisoft said in a statement that it would inform the market if and when appropriate. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment further when asked by Reuters whether the company had received any approach from potential bidders.
Monday’s statement followed a report last week by Bloomberg News that Ubisoft’s founding family, the Guillemots, and Chinese tech giant Tencent, were considering a buyout.
Shares in Ubisoft initially rose by up to 6% on Monday after the statement, topping the SBF 120 index, but reversed course and were down 1.8% at 0905 GMT.
The Guillemot family and Tencent together hold close to 25% of Ubisoft’s share capital, LSEG data shows, after a deal in 2022 that saw the Chinese group acquire close to half of the Guillemots’ holding.
The move capped a difficult period at Ubisoft, marked by a succession of delays of new video games and management changes.
Ubisoft’s stock price slipped further last month after weaker-than-expected quarterly sales.
An underwhelming start for its new game “Star Wars Outlaws” followed the postponement of the launch of “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” by three months to February.
Ubisoft had hoped the two games would help turn around its performance as it implements cost cuts to manage its debt.
(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain in Paris and Leo Marchandon in Gdansk; Additional reporting by Florence Loeve; Editing by Milla Nissi, Tassio Hummel and Alexander Smith)
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