Sammy To Acquire Sega As Profits Treble

Officials from Japanese arcade manufacturer and publisher Sammy have announced that the company intends to acquire the remaining 78% of Sega’s stock in a deal worth ¥165 billion ($1.45bn) Under the terms of the arrangement, Sammy president Hajime Satomi will head a new holding company which will effect a merger of Sega and Sammy in October by buying up all the shares in both companies - with Sega shareholders being given 0.28 shares in the new company for each share they own, while Sammy shares will be exchanged one for one. The news of the takeover follows the release of Sega’s financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31. During this time profits tripled to ¥8.76 billion ($76.9m), from ¥3.05 billion ($26.8m) a year earlier. Sales, however, declined by 3% to ¥191.3 billion ($1.68bn) as overseas sales slipped 19%. Importantly, the loss in the company's home console operations narrowed greatly, with a loss of ¥2.8 billion ($24.6m), down from ¥8.6 billion ($75.5m) last year. Satomi has repeatedly indicated he would prefer to see Sega concentrate on the arcade market in the future, rather than home consoles. Source: MSNBC