New bidder for Tomb Raider firm

A BID by the venture capital outfit backed by U2 frontman Bono to acquire the company behind the Lara Croft video game may be under threat.

Elevations Partners agreed a €102 million cash takeover of Eidos last week, the developer of the successful Lara Croft game.

That bid was quickly followed by a €116m all-share offer by rival games developer SCi Entertainment Group. It has since gained the support of several key institutional Eidos investors to block the Elevation bid.

Elevation, whose offer is backed by the Eidos board, is conducting the takeover through a scheme of arrangement, which means it requires 75% of Eidos shareholders to back the bid.

British firm SCi said yesterday that it has received irrevocable undertakings from shareholders holding 26% of Eidos shares to support its bid. This is enough to block Elevation’s officer.

It is understood that the Elevation scheme can be altered to require only a simple majority vote, but momentum is moving in SCi’s favour.

It is not known if Elevation will get into a bidding war with SCi, which is a much smaller company than Eidos.

If Elevation Partners fails to land Eidos, it will receive around e1m in a break fee.

It secured this sum in return for carrying out due diligence on Eidos’ books or if a higher bid for the company was accepted.

Elevations Partners is a $1 billion venture capital firm with its base in Menlo Park, California.

Bono is one of six managing partners of the firm, who include former Apple Computers finance head Fred Anderson. The fund was set up last year to focus on the media, leisure and entertainment sectors.