DLX
01-11-2003, 07:00 AM
http://www.gamers.com/news/1295737
By: Ravi Hiranand January 10, 2003 11:40 AM PST
"The planned merger between Japanese RPG superpowers Square and Enix is in danger of being called off, according to Saturday's edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. The newspaper reports that Square's chief shareholder, Masafumi Miyamoto, has made public his objection to the financial details -- which Enix chairman Yasuhiro Fukushima warns could result in the termination of the merger.
Under the terms of the agreement, 100 shares in Square will be exchanged for 81 shares in Enix. According to Miyamoto, those terms are unacceptable, and he will vote against the merger at Square's shareholder meeting on February 13th unless the ratio is reconsidered. Given that Miyamoto alone holds 40% of all shares in Square, it is impossible to gain the two-thirds majority required to approve the merger without him.
Miyamoto does say that he is still in favour of the merger in principle, just not under the current terms. In response, Enix's chairman has called an extraordinary board meeting at the beginning of next week to discuss changing the share ratio. According to Fukushima, the figure was agreed upon after Nomura Securities assessed the assets of both companies before coming up with a fair range for share-swap ratios. If Miyamoto's demands exceed that range, it would be against the interests of other shareholders, argues Fukushima. Enix's board will discuss whether the merger is worth going ahead with despite changing the ratio, or whether to stick to their guns and hold out at the current figure. Fukushima warned that that may spell the end of the merger.
Despite appearances, the houses of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy are actually very different. Whereas Square has an abundance of massive in-house development teams, Enix prefers to outsource most development to other companies while doing design work and holding on to their massive licenses. It's for this reason that Miyamoto argues that the merger favours Enix and doesn't take into account the massive costs Square has accrued to build up its development skills, or its future growth potential.
Either way, it's clear that someone will have to give here, and no doubt Enix's board meeting next week will be vital in deciding whether what was previously seen as a dream marriage will ever happen."
This is huge!! Oh Man....
Source:Gamers.com
By: Ravi Hiranand January 10, 2003 11:40 AM PST
"The planned merger between Japanese RPG superpowers Square and Enix is in danger of being called off, according to Saturday's edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. The newspaper reports that Square's chief shareholder, Masafumi Miyamoto, has made public his objection to the financial details -- which Enix chairman Yasuhiro Fukushima warns could result in the termination of the merger.
Under the terms of the agreement, 100 shares in Square will be exchanged for 81 shares in Enix. According to Miyamoto, those terms are unacceptable, and he will vote against the merger at Square's shareholder meeting on February 13th unless the ratio is reconsidered. Given that Miyamoto alone holds 40% of all shares in Square, it is impossible to gain the two-thirds majority required to approve the merger without him.
Miyamoto does say that he is still in favour of the merger in principle, just not under the current terms. In response, Enix's chairman has called an extraordinary board meeting at the beginning of next week to discuss changing the share ratio. According to Fukushima, the figure was agreed upon after Nomura Securities assessed the assets of both companies before coming up with a fair range for share-swap ratios. If Miyamoto's demands exceed that range, it would be against the interests of other shareholders, argues Fukushima. Enix's board will discuss whether the merger is worth going ahead with despite changing the ratio, or whether to stick to their guns and hold out at the current figure. Fukushima warned that that may spell the end of the merger.
Despite appearances, the houses of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy are actually very different. Whereas Square has an abundance of massive in-house development teams, Enix prefers to outsource most development to other companies while doing design work and holding on to their massive licenses. It's for this reason that Miyamoto argues that the merger favours Enix and doesn't take into account the massive costs Square has accrued to build up its development skills, or its future growth potential.
Either way, it's clear that someone will have to give here, and no doubt Enix's board meeting next week will be vital in deciding whether what was previously seen as a dream marriage will ever happen."
This is huge!! Oh Man....
Source:Gamers.com