Takeover hope for games workers.
A SCOTS computer games king has made a last-ditch bid to save a rival firm and secure 60 jobs.Entrepreneur Chris Van der Kuyl, 29, wants his Dunfermline-based VIS Interactive to take over Inner Workings, based in Glasgow, which suspended its shares on Tuesday.
Insiders say it could change hands for as little as pounds 1million.
VIS Interactive have confirmed they are in talks with Inner Workings, known to be urgently in need of a cash injection to fund new developments.
A takeover would give VIS a back-door route to a stock market listing.
Inner Workings is quoted on the Stock Exchange, VIS is not, and flotation has been a long-term aim for Mr Van der Kuyl.
VIS said in a statement yesterday: "Inner Workings is a business we know well and has a good reputation.
"We are interested in establishing the exact status of the firm with a view to making a formal offer and have contacted its advisers."
Inner Workings founder Lesley Keen, who still has a 37 per cent stake, admitted a deal would be struck at a price "substantially below its current market value".
Shares in Inner Workings were suspended at 18.5p on Tuesday, valuing a business originally worth nearly pounds 15million at just pounds 4.5million.
A VIS takeover would give Inner Workings staff their best hope of keeping jobs.
It would also be in line with the pounds 30million expansion plan announced by Mr Van der Kuyl in April. He aims to create 240 jobs across Europe in the next 18 months as he turns VIS into a world player.
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| Author: | Calder, Colin |
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| Publication: | Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) |
| Date: | Jun 17, 1999 |
| Words: | 267 |
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