Vivendi is reportedly gearing up to finally make a takeover bid for Ubisoft in 2017 after months of slowly increasing its stake in the company.

According to Reuters, the move comes as investors are beginning to doubt Vivendi's performance over the last three years. Despite acquisitions costing a total of $16 billion, the company has seen shares fall 3% over the period.

The company is therefore planning to buy out Ubisoft and advertising firm Havas. The latter is already 60%-owned by Vivendi Chairman Vincent Bollore, whose son runs the firm.

Slow going

Vivendi currently holds a 25% stake in Ubisoft, but its acquisition of shares has been slow due to resistance from the Guillemot family. It hasn't bought up any new shares in the developer since it reached 25% in December 2016.

Concerns that Vivendi was looking to buy out Ubisoft started when the media conglomerate acquired a controlling stake in developer Gameloft in June 2016.

Vivendi then started to make further inroads towards taking over Ubisoft, buying up 20% of its shares in September 2016 and then increasing this to 24% in November 2016.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has previously called this activity "dangerous", stating that "we won't relax until they sell their shares".