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Sega board gives go-ahead for merger talks
Wednesday April 23, 7:05 am ET

TOKYO, April 23 (Reuters) - Japan's Sega Corp said on Wednesday its board members had given it the go-ahead to "officially" consider merger deals proposed by pinball machine maker Sammy Corp and fellow game maker Namco Ltd.

The company, known for its "Sonic the Hedgehog" games, declined to provide details of the board's discussion, but a spokesman said Sega was aiming to make a final decision on the proposals by the middle of May so that a deal could be approved by a shareholders meeting slated for late June.

Last week, Namco said it wanted to reopen merger talks with Sega, threatening to torpedo Sega's planned October integration with Sammy.

Asked whether Sega's board members had agreed to consider other reported options such as an operational alliance with Electronic Arts Inc, the spokesman said he could not comment.

The Nihon Keizai business daily said last week that Sega's board was expected to agree on Wednesday to also consider a proposal from EA for a capital alliance and collaboration in development and sales with Sega.

Namco and Sammy both declined to comment on the current status of merger discussions with Sega.

Sega is scheduled to announce its earnings for the year that ended in March on May 19 and Namco plans to unveil its results on May 21. Sammy's earnings announcement is due on May 8.

Shares in Sega closed down 1.54 percent at 701 yen, compared with a 0.04 percent rise in the benchmark Nikkei 225 average.

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Originally posted by jrutz
Found this on Yahoo



Very interesting. Does anyone else agree with me a marriage between Sega and Namco would be great for gaming?

Jeremy

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