EA Secures $1 Billion Loan For Potential Take-Two Buyout

Though it currently has funds on-hand to close the deal, Electronic Arts has announced that it has secured up to $1 billion in additional funding from a number of banks for a potential buyout of Take-Two, should the acquisition happen by January of 2009. The funding comes from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc., Morgan Stanley Bank, BNP Paribas, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., The Bank of Nova Scotia and KeyBank National Association. Take-Two has continually maintained, even prior to the record breaking release of Grand Theft Auto IV, that EA's valuation of the company -- currently standing at $25.74 per share -- was too low. Chairman Strauss Zelnick most recently told the New York Times that “the critical and consumer response to Grand Theft Auto IV vindicates our strategy of waiting until the launch with regard to E.A.’s offer." The latest filing maintains that EA expects "approximately $2.1 billion would be required to purchase all Shares pursuant to the Offer and the Merger and to pay related fees and expenses," and that it currently has "cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments in the amount of approximately $2.3 billion," but promises up to $1 billion "to provide a portion of the funds for the Offer and/or the Merger."