In a press release today, Square Enix announced that it is seeking a friendly buyout of Tecmo.  Squenix is offering Tecmo shareholders a 30% premium over the company's August 28 closing price of $8.15 per share.  A little quick math brings that total offer to $10.60.  The deal would position Tecmo as a subsidiary company under the umbrella of Square Enix's holdings, which include Taito.  

According to Square Enix president, Yoichi Wada, this deal has been in the works for some time now, with Wada meeting with Tecmo chairman, Yasuharu Kakihara, as early as May of this year.  Square Enix hopes to take advantage of the assumed corporate synergy a deal like this could provide.  Specifically, Wada believes that Tecmo's expertise with action titles and Sqenix's experience with RPG's could rub off on one another, helping both brands to improve and expand their game development abilities.

While Wada states that the recent departure of former president, Yoshimi Yasuda, and former Team Ninja head, Tomonobu Itagaki, have not affected the decision to go after Tecmo, he does admit that the departures did affect the timing of the announcement.  Tecmo's board still has the ability to reject the buyout.  If this happens, Square Enix has stated that they would then rescind the offer, unlike in the case of the EA/Take 2 hostile takeover.  I guess that's why they're calling it a "friendly buyout."

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