May 4 (Bloomberg) -- EMI Group Plc, the record label for the Beatles and Coldplay, said it received several takeover approaches, sending the stock to the biggest gain in more than two months.

Shares of EMI, the world's third-largest music company, rose 8.2 percent. The Financial Times said today that One Equity Partners LLC, the U.S. private-equity firm affiliated with JPMorgan Chase & Co., expressed an interest in London-based EMI.

EMI ousted two executives in January after disappointing holiday sales, and has cut its music-sales forecast twice this year. The overtures are at least the fourth round of potential bids in the past year. EMI, with a market value of 1.97 billion pounds ($3.93 billion), rejected a 2.1 billion-pound proposal from Warner Music Group Inc. in March, and ended talks with buyout firm Permira Advisers LLP in December.

``You can't rule out a private-equity bid,'' said Henk Potts, an equity strategist at Barclays Wealth who helps manage $185 billion. ``Warner Music on their own, or in conjunction with someone else, would be able to pay more for EMI.''

Shares of EMI rose 18.75 pence to 246.25 pence in London, the biggest gain since Feb. 20. The shares have lost 7.1 percent this year.

EMI has ``a number of preliminary indications of interest to acquire the company,'' EMI said in a statement today.

`Struggling U.K. Group'

A deal with One Equity Partners may value EMI at more than $6 billion, The Financial Times reported, without saying where it got the information. Max Hohenberg, a spokesman for the buyout firm in Munich, declined to comment. EMI wouldn't comment beyond the statement, said Amanda Conroy, a spokeswoman for the company.

``EMI have had two profit warnings this year and desperately need some help in the lucrative U.S. market,'' Potts said in an interview. ``A deal with Warner would give the struggling U.K. group a `get out of jail free' card.''

EMI said last month that it plans to use sales in its music publishing unit as collateral for bonds in fiscal 2008.

The asset-backed securities could provide the dual benefit of making the company less attractive to private-equity bidders while reducing EMI's borrowing costs, analysts said. Asset- backed debt typically carries lower interest rates than bonds, which only promise to repay the debt.

Contracts based on 10 million euros ($13 million) of EMI's debt rose 10,000 euros to 205,000 euros today, according to Deutsche Bank AG. Credit-default swaps are based on corporate bonds and loans and used to speculate on a company's creditworthiness.

Sales Slump

In February, EMI cut its revenue and profit forecasts for the second time this year as music sales slumped in the U.S. The company reiterated last month that full-year revenue at its recorded music division probably fell 15 percent, excluding the effects of currencies. Revenue from the music publishing division is expected to be ``broadly flat'' on a constant currency basis.

Music companies saw U.S. album sales fall 17 percent in the first quarter as rising online piracy and fewer new hits accelerated the industry's decline. Retailers sold 117.1 million albums in the three months ended April 1, researcher Nielsen SoundScan said last month.

EMI said last month that profit for the year ended March 31 would beat analysts' estimates and that it's cutting costs faster than it anticipated.

The company expects to post earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization before exceptional items of about 174 million pounds for the fiscal year ended March 31, EMI said last month. The company is scheduled to report results on May 23.

Merger Attempts

Slumping revenue has driven EMI Chief Executive Officer Eric Nicoli to seek a combination with New York-based Warner Music as a way to reduce costs.

Warner and EMI dropped efforts to merge in 2000 after regulators opposed the plan. EMI's attempt to buy Bertelsmann AG's BMG unit in 2001 was also stymied by regulators. EMI again failed to combine with Warner in 2003, when a group led by Bronfman won the bidding for Time Warner Inc.'s music unit.

Last June, Warner and EMI offered about $4.6 billion for each other before withdrawing the bids on concern a combination would be blocked by European Union regulators. The European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg on July 13 threw out EU regulators' approval of the merger that created Sony BMG Music Entertainment in 2004. Warner offered 320 pence a share for EMI in June.

The combined company would have a quarter of the global market, moving ahead of Sony BMG to rank second worldwide behind Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group. The Sony BMG combination is subject to European Union approval.

``The Sony BMG merger, which is being looked at by the European Union, really clouded the landscape,'' Potts said. ``Until we get a resolution to that issue it will be difficult for EMI and Warner to go ahead. While they are waiting investors may get impatient and put pressure on the board to look elsewhere.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Aisha Phoenix in London at aphoenix@bloomberg.net; Zimri Smith in London at zsmith@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 4, 2007 12:58 EDT