Bandai Namco Holdings (Bandai Namco HD) made a round of announcements about restructuring within the company Thursday and outlined a series of changes that are scheduled to take place in the remainder of 2007 and early 2008.
The first major change announced is that the Games Division within the Bandai Namco subsidiary company Banpresto will be integrated with the "Bandai Namco Games" label. The transition will officially take place on April 1, 2008 — the same day when most major Japanese companies transfer staff and begin a new fiscal year. Banpresto is best known for the popular Super Robot Wars series of videogames. Following the transition, Banpresto will focus its efforts on developing prizes for game machines in video arcades and game centers. Additionally, two Banpresto subsidiaries involved with the amusement park industry will be integrated with Namco.
In addition to changes within Banpresto, Bandai Namco HD also announced its intention to launch a takeover bid — through a purchase of all publicly-traded company shares — to take control of Bandai Visual and Bandai Networks. The bid will be conducted between November 9 and December 10. If the bid to purchase all the shares should fail, a proposal to make the company a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings will be made on the market. Currently, Bandai Visual is traded on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), while Bandai Networks is traded on the JASDAQ. Should the take over bid succeed, public trading of shares will cease for both companies.
The current main focus for Bandai Visual is anime and anime DVD distribution, while Bandai Networks is working on content for cellular phone users. Based on the increase in Internet distribution of content, the arrival of new formats like Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD, and the increase in how much power mobile phones have to run content, Bandai Namco HD has signaled a desire to bring both subsidiaries closer to the company itself to have a direct hand in implementing new technology.
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