Take-Two Sells Joytech Division To Mad Catz

Officials from Take-Two Interactive have announced that the company has sold all of its assets in video game peripheral making subsidiary Joytech. The sale was made to rival accessory maker Mad Catz Interactive. The move is described as being part of Take-Two’s previously announced plans to divest its non-core businesses, following a management takeover. "The sale of the Joytech assets is consistent with one of the key goals we established in our 100 Day Plan: to develop strategic alternatives for any operations that we determined to be outside our core publishing business," said Take-Two CEO Ben Feder. "We are particularly pleased that we accomplished this goal in a manner that will allow substantially all of our Joytech employees in the U.S. and UK to join Mad Catz, which is a highly respected provider of video game peripherals,” he added. According to a statement from Mad Catz, the sale was made for approximately $3.7 million and will be used primarily to boost the company’s presence in Europe with a specific product development effort. Mad Catz had already identified Europe as a key area of growth in its most recent financial results. Mad Catz anticipates that the acquisition will see at least a $10 million increase in its annual revenue. A combination of cash on hand and borrowing under its existing credit facility will pay for the assets. "This transaction is consistent with our strategy to continue to grow profitably, in part by diversifying our product line-up and geographic reach,” said president and CEO Darren Richardson. “Joytech's strong presence in Europe and growing presence in North America are expected to complement our current operations and further enhance our worldwide distribution network enabling Mad Catz to more efficiently deliver a larger portfolio of innovative gaming accessories to our customers worldwide,” he added.