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Angry Birds Maker Rovio Confirms Talks with Sega over Tender Offer

Angry Birds game characters are seen at the Rovio headquarters in Espoo, Finland March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Anne Kauranen
Angry Birds game characters are seen at the Rovio headquarters in Espoo, Finland March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Anne Kauranen
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Angry Birds Maker Rovio Confirms Talks with Sega over Tender Offer

Angry Birds game characters are seen at the Rovio headquarters in Espoo, Finland March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Anne Kauranen
Angry Birds game characters are seen at the Rovio headquarters in Espoo, Finland March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Anne Kauranen

Rovio Entertainment, the company behind the mobile game Angry Birds, confirmed on Saturday that it is in talks with Japan's Sega Sammy Holdings Inc over a possible tender offer.

Rovio announced the start of a strategic review and preliminary non-binding discussions regarding a potential tender offer for its shares in February, a statement from the group said.

"As part of its strategic review, Rovio Entertainment Corporation confirms that it is in discussions with Sega Sammy Holdings Inc," it said. "Rovio and Sega will release further information at an appropriate time."

The statement comes after the Wall Street Journal on Friday reported that Sega is nearing a deal to acquire Rovio for about $1 billion.

Rovio declined to comment on the valuation. As of Friday's close its market capitalization stood at 594.1 million euros ($653.5 million), according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

The company added in the statement that there "is no certainty as to when the possible tender offer would take place, or whether it would take place at all".

Sega did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Rovio received a 683 million euro takeover bid in January from Israeli peer Playtika Holding Corp, but the talks were called off last month.

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Liam Payne’s Manager, Hotel Staff Failed ‘Vulnerable’ Singer before Death, Judge Says

British singer-songwriter Liam Payne poses on the red carpet on arrival for the BRIT Awards 2019 in London on February 20, 2019. (AFP)
British singer-songwriter Liam Payne poses on the red carpet on arrival for the BRIT Awards 2019 in London on February 20, 2019. (AFP)
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Liam Payne’s Manager, Hotel Staff Failed ‘Vulnerable’ Singer before Death, Judge Says

British singer-songwriter Liam Payne poses on the red carpet on arrival for the BRIT Awards 2019 in London on February 20, 2019. (AFP)
British singer-songwriter Liam Payne poses on the red carpet on arrival for the BRIT Awards 2019 in London on February 20, 2019. (AFP)

An Argentine judge argued that the manager of former One Direction singer Liam Payne and employees of the hotel where he was staying failed the popstar in the moments before his death and allowed charges against them to proceed, according to a statement from the prosecutor's office on Monday.

Payne fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires in October.

Payne's manager as well as the manager of the hotel and its head of reception are charged with manslaughter in relation to the former pop superstar's death. They face up to five years in prison if convicted.

A hotel employee and a local waiter are accused of plying Payne with cocaine during his stay, and face up to 15 years in prison. The judge in her decision on Friday ordered them jailed ahead of their trial.

"Taking Payne up to his room in the state he was in was to put his life at risk," the judge said in her decision, which was released with the prosecutor's statement. "It was obvious that he was vulnerable."

Payne's autopsy showed that at the time of his death he had "large quantities" of cocaine and alcohol in his system, according to the statement.

Payne allegedly purchased cocaine at least four times from the hotel employee and waiter over a three-day period.

Footage from the lobby of the Casa Sur hotel in the posh Palermo neighborhood showed that minutes before Payne's death on Oct. 16 he was seen unconscious and being carried up to his room by three people.

The hotel receptionist headed the group, and was then seen with the hotel manager in the hallway outside Payne's room, according to the statement.

"Payne's consciousness was altered and there was a balcony in the room. The proper thing to do was to leave him in a safe place and in company until a doctor arrived," the judge said.

She added that evidence showed that Payne attempted to leave his room through the balcony but due to the state he was in he fell.

Payne's manager, identified only by his initials "RLN," left the hotel less than an hour before the fall. The judge argued that he should not have entrusted the hotel employees with Payne's wellbeing.

The judge barred the manager, who is a US citizen, from leaving Argentina.