Approval is music to ears of investors
Source: Agencies |
April 21, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE European Union's competition regulator has approved a deal by Sony/ATV and other investors to buy part of the British music company EMI Group Ltd.
Sony/ATV, a joint venture between Sony Corp and the Michael Jackson estate, and several investment funds including United Arab Emirates-based Mubadala Development Co jointly offered US$2.2 billion in November for EMI Music's publishing businesses.
EMI's publishing arm manages the rights to songs of popular artists such as Amy Winehouse, Regina Spektor and Rihanna.
Universal Music Group has a pending deal to buy the rest of EMI, which became famous for recording The Beatles and is also home to Coldplay and Katy Perry. EMI was put up for sale by Citigroup last summer, after the bank foreclosed on private-equity firm Terra Firma, which bought the music company in 2007.
To get approval for the deal from the European Commission, the Sony-led investor group promised to sell the publishing rights to several music catalogues and the works of 12 artists, including Ozzy Osbourne, Robbie Williams and Ben Harper.
During its review of the deal, the commission found that without the sale of those rights, Sony/ATV would have been able to control the online licensing of Anglo-American chart hits in Europe.
"Sony and Mubadala have offered to divest valuable and attractive catalogues containing bestselling titles as well as works of successful and promising authors," Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said on Thursday. He added that the sale of the publishing rights to those works would ensure "consumer choice and cultural diversity."
Sony/ATV, a joint venture between Sony Corp and the Michael Jackson estate, and several investment funds including United Arab Emirates-based Mubadala Development Co jointly offered US$2.2 billion in November for EMI Music's publishing businesses.
EMI's publishing arm manages the rights to songs of popular artists such as Amy Winehouse, Regina Spektor and Rihanna.
Universal Music Group has a pending deal to buy the rest of EMI, which became famous for recording The Beatles and is also home to Coldplay and Katy Perry. EMI was put up for sale by Citigroup last summer, after the bank foreclosed on private-equity firm Terra Firma, which bought the music company in 2007.
To get approval for the deal from the European Commission, the Sony-led investor group promised to sell the publishing rights to several music catalogues and the works of 12 artists, including Ozzy Osbourne, Robbie Williams and Ben Harper.
During its review of the deal, the commission found that without the sale of those rights, Sony/ATV would have been able to control the online licensing of Anglo-American chart hits in Europe.
"Sony and Mubadala have offered to divest valuable and attractive catalogues containing bestselling titles as well as works of successful and promising authors," Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said on Thursday. He added that the sale of the publishing rights to those works would ensure "consumer choice and cultural diversity."
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