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In August 2019, Tencent became the largest shareholder of game developer Funcom. The Chinese tech giant had upped their ownership to 29% at that point in time. Today, Tencent announced that they have created a cash offer to acquire all shares of Funcom.
As it stands, Funcom is publically traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Tencent is looking to acquire shares from all other shareholders. They are offering them 17 Norwegian Krone (NOK) per share, or about $1.89 (USD). That may not seem like a whole heck of a lot to you, but this is apparently over 27% more than the closing price of Funcom shares on January 21, 2020.
Current shareholders will be free to accept or reject the offer during the "offer period." This period will begin in early February. Funcom's board has already unanimously decided to recommend that shareholders accept this offer.
Funcom CEO Rui Casais seems to be rather thrilled about the potential takeover.
"We have had a great relationship with Tencent as our largest shareholder so far and we are excited about this opportunity,†says Funcom CEO Rui Casais. “We will continue to develop great games that people all over the world will play, and we believe that the support of Tencent will take Funcom to the next level. Tencent will provide Funcom with operational leverage and insights from its vast knowledge as the leading company in the game space."
This offer from Tencent has apparently prompted Funcom management to "increase the ambition level of the upcoming Dune game." That simply means we'll probably see Dune get quite a bit more in funding going forward.
