Electronics Arts extends Take-Two offer by a month

Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:47am EDT

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc (ERTS.O) said on Monday it has extended its unsolicited tender offer for shares of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc (TTWO.O) by one month to August 18.

EA said as of July 18 approximately 11.7 million shares of Take-Two, publisher of the blockbuster "Grand Theft Auto" game, had been tendered in and not withdrawn from the tender offer.

This is the fifth time EA has extended its tender offer for Take-Two.

Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick said the board remained unanimous in continuing to recommend that its stockholders not tender their shares to EA.

"We are fully engaged in a formal process to evaluate strategic alternatives that have the potential to deliver greater value than EA's inadequate offer," said Zelnick in statement

He said the company is continuing to have discussions with multiple parties, some of whom have been conducting due diligence.

EA last extended its tender offer to July 18 because of an antitrust merger review by the Federal Trade Commission. The company said in a regulatory filing earlier this month that due to the review it would not proceed with its proposed $2 billion acquisition of Take-Two before August 21.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke, editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Dave Zimmerman)