US publishing giant Take-Two is going to be buying British racing specialist Codemasters.

The UK company put out a release to its investors saying that its board had come to agreement with the Grand Theft Auto maker. The deal is priced at £4.85 per share, which is being dolled out as £1.20 in cash and 0.02834 in new Take-Two shares. This values Codemasters at around £759 million ($994m).

It's expected that the acquisition will close in the first quarter of 2021.

"We are exceedingly pleased to announce this recommended transaction with the Board of Codemasters," Take-Two chair and CEO Strauss Zelnick (pictured) said.

"Codemasters has a renowned history of creating some of our industry's most beloved and commercially successful racing franchises, and we believe that their offerings will be highly complementary to our sports portfolio and enhance further our organisation's long-term growth. Moreover, we look forward to welcoming Codemasters' senior management and development teams into our Take-Two family, and sharing in our vision to deliver the highest quality entertainment experiences and aim to be the most innovative, creative and efficient company in our industry."

Codemasters chair Gerhard Florin added: "With a leading position in sports gaming, the Board of Codemasters firmly believes the Company will benefit from Take-Two's broad capabilities which will help propel the long term success of Codemasters. In recommending this Offer to shareholders, the Board of Codemasters believes it is in the best interests of all stakeholders in the Company. Take-Two's offer reflects the great work the management team has done since listing on AIM in 2018 at 200p and delivers an excellent return for shareholders in just two and a half years."

News of Take-Two buying Codemasters broke before the weekend.

At GDC 2019, we caught up with Codemasters boss Frank Sagnier to discuss why the firm went public and how it is balancing its old and new IP.

This is the latest acquisition that Take-Two has made on this side of the pond. Just last month, the company confirmed that its Rockstar label had bought Dundee-based Ruffian Games. The studio has been rebranded as Rockstar Dundee.