Representatives from British-headquartered publisher Empire Interactive have made an official statement confirming that the company has received several bids from parties interested in takeover talks.
Listed on the London stock exchange, the company is valued at around £5 million ($8.82m), with annual sales of around £30 million ($52.89m) and an expected pre-tax profit for the year ending March 31st of £500,000 ($0.88m). The company’s original IP titles include
Flat Out and
Big Mutha Truckers, and its assets also include a number of licenses including
Starsky and Hutch,
Bad Boys,
Starship Troopers and
Hello Kitty.
The company’s statement indicates that it has received two approaches from U.S. based companies and one from a UK company, though there has been no specific indication of what companies are involved, though
long-time U.S. distributor Vivendi is certainly a possible suitor.
News outlet AFX News claims its sources have suggested that an American buyer would be particularly interested in the company because of its eclectic range of both PC and console titles, as well as its ties to Asian companies such as Sega and Taito and local offices in London, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the U.S.
The company was founded in 1987, and found early success with licenses such as
Trivial Pursuit and
The Hunt for Red October, as well as the
Team Yankee series of tank simulations and puzzle game
Pipemania. The company established a successful European budget label named in Xplosiv in 2000 for both PC and PlayStation 2 titles.
