Tencent invests $300 million in Ubisoft

Publisher Tencent has announced that it has acquired a minority stake in developer Ubisoft. With a $297,000,000 investment, the Chinese conglomerate increased its stake in Ubisoft to 9.99% and increased its overall stake in Guillemot Brothers Ltd. up to 49.9%.

Guillemot Bros Ltd. is a company owned by the Guillemot family that manages Ubisoft, which owns up to 29.9% of the shares of the video game developer.

The latest deal means that, although Tencent is already a minority owner, Tencent and Guillemot Bros Ltd. together could own most of the shares in Ubisoft.

Tencent's investment in Guillemot Brothers Limited is €300 million (a €200 million share acquisition and a €100 million capital increase), with Ubisoft's estimated valuation of €80 per share.

Guillemot Brothers Limited remains solely under the control of the Guillemot family. Tencent will not be represented on the Board of Directors and will not receive any consent or veto power over the business.

In light of the latest investment, Tencent will reportedly be working to "bring some of Ubisoft's most famous franchises to mobile devices." These include the Rainbow Six Mobile project, new details about which will likely be revealed during the Ubisoft Forward.

Tencent currently owns Riot Games publisher League of Legends and VALORANT. Tencent also owns Turtle Rock Studios, which previously co-developed Counter-Strike: Source, and owns a 40 percent stake in Epic Games, which develops Fortnite.

Previously, Tencent also held a five percent stake in Call of Duty and Overwatch developers Activision Blizzard until earlier this year, but later sold Microsoft shares as part of a takeover.

The latest deal is expected to expand the Rainbow Six esports ecosystem to the China region.