Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) has increased its stake in Eidos’ Lara Croft game maker SCi Entertainment, which last week renamed to Eidos Plc, as bidders continue to hover over the ailing studio. Time Warner increased its holding from 42.5 million to 52.5 million shares, or 19.92 percent of the outfit. Time Warner originally bought a 10 percent stake in 2006 for about $87.5 million. RNS announcement.
Eidos Plc’s share price has plummeted as the outfit posted big losses over the last year, leading to takeover interest from at least one confirmed, but unnamed suitor. In September, the company acknowledged newspaper speculation by confirming it “received an approach and, as a result has entered into extremely preliminary discussions regarding a possible offer”. Time Warner, through its existing stake, always looked most likely to make a bid. It’s already bought Traveler’s Tales the studio behind the Lego Batman/Indiana Jones/Star Wars series, and has other European developer relationships to develop games from its Warner Bros. movie studio licenses including Batman. Unclear whether TWX is making an investment in anticipation of a looming buyout, just trying to secure greater control or giving Eidos some needed capital.