Rivals compete to raid Lara Croft’s designers

CYBERBABE Lara Croft was at the centre of a takeover tug-of-war yesterday after two bids were tabled for her London-based creator.

Shares in Eidos rocketed 26% after rival computer games’ maker SCi Entertainment stepped in with a €110 million offer to trump an earlier recommended bid from a US-based private equity group.

Eidos directors last night gave their blessing to a €102.5m bid by Elevation Partners, which includes U2 singer Bono among its directors. But this stance was not supported by investment bank Schroders, the largest investor in Eidos, which has lined up its near-20% shareholding behind the SCi bid.