Shareholders Approve SCi Bid For Eidos

Voting at the company’s annual general meeting, shareholders of British publisher SCi have approved the purchase of fellow British publisher Eidos Interactive. The vote removes the last possible obstacle for SCi’s proposed takeover of the Tomb Raider and Hitman publisher. A formal statement released by Eidos officials confirmed that 23,667,078 shares would be issued in the acquisition of the company, with an extra 20,038,982 being used for working capital for the merged companies. A second meeting of SCi’s shareholders will now take place on May 17th to oversee the admission of the shares. Once this is done Eidos shareholders will have until May 24th to accept the offer – although since over 70 percent have already done so this should be a formality. In keeping with the drawn-out nature of the acquisition, no further details have been released of how exactly the two companies will merge, what name they might take or exactly what changes will be made to the Eidos management. In related news, SCi has today announced its line-up for E3, which will include new title Total Overdose, Conflict: Vietnam follow-up Conflict: Global Terror, new franchise Battlestations: Midway, 2000AD comic license Rogue Trooper and first person shoot ‘em-up Roll Call. Eidos will not have a stand on the show floor, but will be showing Tomb Raider: Legend, Hitman: Blood Money, 25 To Life and Commandos Strike Force behind closed doors.