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.

Yesterday’s developments prolong eight months of uncertainty over the future of Eidos, which warned last week that a formal takeover offer had to be made by Good Friday to satisfy the terms of a new €33m loan from the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Best known for the Tomb Raider series, Eidos fell into the red by €42m at the half-year stage and uncertainty over its future has led to a number of key members of staff quitting.

Elevation, which was formed last year to invest in the media and entertainment industries, is offering 72c per share to take Eidos private and free it from “the burden of half-yearly reporting.”

“This will enable the company to develop games on a schedule which permits maximum creative flexibility,” Elevation said.