Tencent reportedly raising stake to become largest Ubisoft shareholder

Chinese multinational technology and entertainment company Tencent is reportedly looking to raise its stake in Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry publisher Ubisoft.

According to a new report from Reuters, Tencent apparently expressed interest in the French publisher and is looking to raise the five per cent stake it placed in 2018.

Two sources claimed that Tencent is aiming to “become the single largest shareholder” of Ubisoft with another stake purchase. At this time it’s unclear how much the company is planning on owning of the company.

Additional sources said that Tencent does plan on purchasing the extrastake from the Guillemot family – the current CEO of Ubisoft – which own 15 per cent of the firm. This would mean Tencent would hold 20 per cent of the Assassin’s Creed developer. The remaining 80 per cent of the stakes belong to public shareholders.

Tencent is also apparently planning on seeking out additional stakes from these public shareholders in order to raise its ownership.

Ubisoft is currently valued at $5.3billion (approximately £4.3billion). Reuters reports that Tencent could offer up to 100 euros ($101.84 / £84.14) per share to acquire the additional stake. The Chinese conglomerate paid 66 euros ($67.23  / £55.54) per share for its five per cent stake in 2018.

Following the report, Ubisoft’s shares seemingly surged more than 15 per cent, while the shares in Guillemot Corp were trading more than seven per cent.

While also being a stakeholder in Ubisoft, Activision Blizzard and Grinding Gear Games, Tencent also holds ownership over League Of Legends developer Riot Games, as well as the Fortnite creators Epic Games. Back in December, the company acquired Back 4 Blood studio, Turtle Rock.

In other news, a World Of Warcraft mobile spin-off game was reportedly cancelled over an internal dispute.