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Technology Stocks : Activision....Returns! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JakeStraw who wrote (1872)	12/2/2007 11:58:31 AM
From: Sr K	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1992

Vivendi Games to Combine With Activision in $18.9 Billion Deal By Jennifer Sondag Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Vivendi SA agreed to combine its games unit with Activision Inc., the maker of the ``Guitar Hero'' video games, in a transaction valued at $18.9 billion. Activision shareholders will receive $27.50 a share, the companies said in a statement distributed by Business Wire today. Vivendi Games will contribute $1.7 billion in cash to the new company and take a 52 percent stake in the venture. Activision rose 18 cents to $22.15 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading on Nov. 30. --- biz.yahoo.com Vivendi and Activision to Create Activision Blizzard - World's Largest, Most Profitable Pure-Play Video Game Publisher Sunday December 2, 11:00 am ET . . . Structure & Terms of Transaction Under the terms of the agreement, Vivendi Games will be merged with a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision. In the merger, shares of Vivendi Games will be converted into 295.3 million new shares of Activision common stock. Based on the transaction price of $27.50 per share of Activision common stock, this implies a value of approximately $8.1 billion for Vivendi Games. Concurrently with the merger, Vivendi will purchase 62.9 million newly issued shares of Activision common stock at a price of $27.50 per share – a premium of 31% to Activision’s average closing price over the past 20 trading days – for a total of $1.7 billion in cash. As a result of these transactions, Vivendi will own an approximate 52% ownership stake in Activision Blizzard on a fully diluted basis. Within five business days after closing the transaction, Activision Blizzard will launch a $4 billion all-cash tender offer to purchase up to 146.5 million Activision Blizzard common shares at $27.50 per share. The tender offer will be funded by Activision Blizzard’s cash on hand at closing, including the $1.7 billion in cash received from the Vivendi share purchase. In addition, Vivendi has agreed to acquire from Activision Blizzard additional newly issued shares for up to an additional $700 million of Activision common stock at $27.50 per share, the proceeds of which would also be used to fund the tender offer. Any remaining funds required to complete the tender offer will be borrowed by Activision Blizzard from Vivendi or third-party lenders. If the tender offer is fully subscribed, Vivendi will own an approximate 68% ownership stake in Activision Blizzard on a fully diluted basis. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive in its first year post-closing for Activision’s stockholders and slightly accretive for Vivendi’s stockholders. Activision Blizzard is targeting pro forma operating income of $1.1 billion and pro forma earnings per share (EPS) in excess of $1.20 in calendar year 2009. The transaction is expected to be at least $0.20 accretive to Activision stockholders in calendar year 2009.