SCi TAPPED FOR EIDOS TAKEOVER BID
Copyright 2005 www.tombraiderchronicles.com

[ March 20th 2005 ]

British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph has reported SCi Entertainment Group Plc may tender a bid for London publisher Eidos plc ahead of an expiry date on a loan provided by Royal Bank of Scotland. Bloomberg.com also reports that "SCi, which is based in London, is currently carrying out due diligence." Eidos said earlier this month it was in talks that may lead to a 75 million-pound ($144.1 million) offer, confirmed in the Company's interim results.

Numerous suitors have been tapped as likely acquirers of the British publishing house, including UBI SOFT, EA and more recently Rupert Murdock's News Corp empire. Eidos has a further ten days to secure a buy-out offer before a golden parachute tendered by Royal Bank of Scotland expires.

Eidos confirmed during the release of the Company's interim results to December 2004 that "a proposal had been received on 2 March 2005 of a possible cash offer at a price of 53 pence per share, subject to one principal condition. However there can be no assurance that this condition will be satisfied and no certainty that an offer will be made nor as to the terms on which any offer might be made. This disclosure had not been made with the consent of the other party."