14 DAY TRIAL // Infogrames keeps on making the headlines, only months after David Gardner, ex-Electronic Arts, and Phil Harisson, ex-Sony, were put in charge of the company. Even as an offer to acquire all outstanding stock of American Atari, Inc. is still pending, the France-based company confirmed that it was behind an offer made to take over SCi, which we reported as of last week.
A lot of speculation revolved around the undisclosed name of the suitor that wanted to acquire SCi. It was rumored that NBC was making a move into the gaming world with an offer, as a means to hinder the expansion plans that Warner Bros, the main partner of Sci, has with the company. The rumors were not confirmed or denied by the company, even as it publicly announced that the takeover offer was declined because of fears regarding the financial aspect and the transition period.
Now Infogrames has officialy confirmed that it "presented the SCi Board with a detailed indicative offer for SCi that the Infogrames Board believes has the potential to be significantly value enhancing to both SCi's and Infogrames' shareholders". Even if Infogrames provided ample evidence that it "has sufficient resources to satisfy the cash element of its indicative offer and has secured commitments in relation to the potential working capital requirements of the enlarged group," the offer was rejected.
The statement from the French company also read that "Whilst Infogrames has been considering a range of options, including but not limited to a potential merger with SCi, there can be no certainty that any offer will be made for SCi". In other words, Infogrames have not yet given up on their interest in SCi, but any further moves will likely take time to engineer and there's a real feeling that, with the announcement of more Warner Bros investments in SCi, the company will not be more receptive to follow up offers.