August 6, 2009 13:38

Pirate Bay takeover 'to take place this month'

Global Gaming Factory chief claims the move is imminent

The founder of Swedish company Global Gaming Factory has claimed that his proposed takeover of torrent-sharing site The Pirate Bay will occur on August 27.

Talks for the company to take over the site began following guilty verdicts being given to four men involved with the website for copyright infringement crimes in April. The Global Gaming Factory's plan is to turn the site into a legal music downloading website.

"The acquisition is secured," Hans Pendaya told BBC 6Music, although he did say that the move was still subject to approval from shareholders in a meeting.

"We're taking over The Pirate Bay on August 27," he added. "We have the legalisation plan in place, we have the funds, we're ready to go."

The statement comes despite Global Gaming Factory's former adviser, Wayne Rosso, suggesting that the deal was in doubt over funding.

However, Pendaya added that he had been "negotiating" with representatives for one of the four major record labels – EMI, Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music – about distributing their music through the site, though did not reveal which one it was.