Japanese games giant Square Enix, maker of the Final Fantasy series, has launched a £84.3 million bid for Tomb Raider developer Eidos. The British firm last month confirmed an approach had been made on the company but didn’t reveal who. But now a 30-page document (pdf) confirms that the directors of Eidos and SQEX, a UK-incorporated Square Enix subsidiary, have agreed a deal subject to shareholder approval. Shareholders will get £0.32 for each share which represents a 258 percent premium on the price from January 14, the day before Eidos announced an approach. Eidos’s shares more than doubled in price from a close of £0.14 yesterday to a 52-week high of £0.31 this morning.

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The offer now goes to Eidos shareholders at an EGM where the motion needs a 75 percent value majority to go through—and unsurprisingly given the company’s turbulent last few months, Eidos directors will “unanimously” recommend the bid to investors. Eidos, which re-named itself from SCi Entertainment last year, has long been an M&A target: in September 2007 as many as three bidders were considering offers, including major shareholder Time Warner which owns just under 20 percent. The deal would see Eidos delisted from the London Stock Exchange and become a private holding of SQEX. More after the jump…