Activision Blizzard to buy out Vivendi for £5.3bn The transaction is expected to close by the end of September 2013. It will leave Activision with about £909 million of net debt, but the company has received committed financing for the transaction from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan. "With independence, Activision Blizzard will have more control over its strategic direction and use of cash," said Piers Harding-Rolls, Head of Games at analysts IHS Electronics & Media. Although the company is well known for taking deliberate and meaningful steps into established market opportunities, independence may allow it to become more aggressive in its approach to emerging markets and segments. However, he added that Vivendi's failure to find a third-party buyer for its share of Activision Blizzard reflects the lack of appetite for companies considered to be heavily exposed to traditional gaming markets. The news comes just days after Vivendi announced that it has entered into exclusive talks with Etisalat, the Abu Dhabi-based telecoms group, to sell its stake in Maroc Telecom for £3.7 billion. The transactions indicate that Vivendi is finally making progress in its efforts to consolidate the company's disparate businesses and reverse a long share price slump. It also comes as Sony and Microsoft prepare to launch their next-generation games consoles - the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One - this winter. Activision's 'Call of Duty: Ghosts' is likely to do well on the machines, as is next year's sci-fi adventure Destiny, a new title from the studio behind the Halo series.