(Bloomberg) – The company behind the popular Final Fantasy game series was born in Tokyo on Friday, following a report that it received interest from potential buyers.
Square Enix Holdings Co. rose 12 percent on Friday, most in eight months, according to a report on the CTFN transaction news site, which cited two unidentified bankers. Square Enix said it has not received any proposals and is not considering a sale.
“We are not considering the sale of the company or any part of its business, nor have we received any offers from any third party to acquire the company or any part of its business,” the company said in a statement.
Shares of Square Enix trade close to last year’s high, offering a market value of 845 billion yen ($ 7.8 billion). In addition to Final Fantasy, he publishes the Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts series of role-playing games and owns the Tomb Raider franchise.
“With intellectual property that has remained popular for years, Square Enix has strong branding power,” said Shoichi Arisawa, an analyst at Iwai Cosmo Securities Co.
Against the background of growing competition for the largest exclusive properties and rising revenues due to the pandemic, M&A activity in the video game sector has increased. In 2020, nearly $ 25 billion was recorded in transactions, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Most of this was the acquisition of Microsoft Corp. $ 7.5 billion from Bethesda Softworks owner, producer of The Elder Scrolls, Doom and Fallout series. Electronic Arts Inc. won a rival bid from Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. to buy racing game maker Codemasters Group Holdings Plc for $ 1.2 billion.
“M&A will remain robust after the record volume of transactions – both the number of transactions and the dollar value – in 2020, with more game makers having cash-rich balance sheets,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Matthew Kanterman. they will probably target smaller, private developers as opposed to the big ones listed. ”
It is far from the first time that the producer of Final Fantasy was a possible acquisition target. Prior to its merger with Enix, Microsoft had intended to acquire Square in 1999, but the deal was rejected because it was too small.
The report also stimulated other gaming actions in Tokyo, Koei Tecmo Holdings Co. increasing by up to 2.9%.
(Updates with comment from Square Enix in the second initial)
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