The $18.8 billion deal to combine Activision and Vivendi Games will see the creation of a new company, Activision Blizzard, which is expected to be the world’s largest and most profitable pure-play video game publisher. Vivendi, which is going to be the majority stakeholder in the new company, has taken a major step towards the materialization of the deal. It has secured a loan of $5.13 billion to fund the acquisition.
The loan will not only be used to close Vivendi’s acquisition of Activision but also that of Neuf Cegetel, a French telecommunication firm. The syndicated loan has been fully underwritten by a pool of banks lead by Societe Generale, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Fortis Bank. Around $2.1 billion dollars of the loan amount is a bridging loan, while the remaining $3 billion is a revolver loan.
It seems that the deal will be closed by mid-2008 as originally planned and very soon Activision Blizzard will be a new force to reckon with in the video games industry. Vivendi Games and Activision had originally announced the merger on December 2, 2007.
Bob is upset. He just spent 5 years creating a game to be played on the Nintendo DS and Nintendo won’t sell him what he needs to actually market the game. So what is he doing? Sitting in his basement for 100 days to protest…
The loan will not only be used to close Vivendi’s acquisition of Activision but also that of Neuf Cegetel, a French telecommunication firm. The syndicated loan has been fully underwritten by a pool of banks lead by Societe Generale, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Fortis Bank. Around $2.1 billion dollars of the loan amount is a bridging loan, while the remaining $3 billion is a revolver loan.
It seems that the deal will be closed by mid-2008 as originally planned and very soon Activision Blizzard will be a new force to reckon with in the video games industry. Vivendi Games and Activision had originally announced the merger on December 2, 2007.
Read [Next-Gen] Also Read [Gamasutra]
Keep up with the latest Gaming news! -
Subscribe to our feed →