The board of SCi Entertainment, the video games company behind Lara Croft, said today that it was ready to fight off a new takeover bid and instead seek an equity placement and rights issue to raise the £50 million of capital the company needs.

SCi revealed this morning that it had received an indicative proposal “at a significant premium to the company’s current share price”, but added that the offer still did not provide enough value.

SCi confirmed yesterday that it was considering an equity placement and rights issue worth £50 million.

Phil Rogers, the new chief executive, indicated in February that SCi needed to raise between £45 million and £55 million in working capital after reporting greater losses and delays to the launch of key games, including the next Tomb Raider.

The games group also unveiled an emergency restructuring programme that included relocating production facilities and dismissing a quarter of its workforce.

SCi would not comment on the identity of the latest bidder for the company, but the games maker has received other indicative proposals over the past few months, none of which has led to a firm offer.

It is thought that the bidder is unlikely to be either Time Warner, the US media giant, which has a 10 per cent stake in the company, or large players in the games market, such as NBC Universal or Electronic Arts, which have been linked with SCi in the past.

Julian Lakin, a Mirabaud Securities analyst, said that smaller developers, such as Ubisoft, the French game maker, are more likely to be behind the latest attempted takeover because the bid is a paper offer, not a cash offer.

"I think we would all be pleased if Time Warner offered a reasonable price, then we could all go home,” Mr Lakin said.

“But this story continues on. When you think this company had a market value of over £500 million and now is worth a tenth of that, it shows how shareholder value can swing.

“The company says it only needs £50 million in a one-for-one rights issue. Companies don't go this cheap when they have this kind of intellectual property. Tomb Raider on its own would be worth £50 million.”

The UK’s largest games publisher parted company with Jane Cavanagh, the former chief executive, and two other top executives in January after the business unveiled an interim loss of £83.4 million.

The loss widened after Mr Rogers announced plans to abandon 14 games in development, prompting a write-off amounting to £79.6 million.

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