Atari shareholders fail to vote on finance plan

Atari's parent company Infogrames has failed for a second time to agree on a EUR 74 million refinancing deal, after less than the required 20 per cent of shareholders turned out for a vote last week.

As shares fell to EUR 0.40 at the end of trading on Friday, the company has now lost 71 per cent of its value since is began refinacing talks in February this year.

"I regret that we haven't been able to convince our shareholders,"said a statement from CEO Bruno Bonnell.

"With this plan, Infogrames has a real chance to restart and therefore create value, which can't happen except with this support," he offered.

A third shareholders meeting has been set for November 15th.

Bonnell has recently tried to convince shareholders that the company must initiate a radical refinancing plan in order to survive.

Last week the board drafted in an independent expert to prepare a report that concluded the restructuring plan was fair to all parties concerned.