BMG Is Said to Have Bid for Three Different Sets of Warner Music's Assets
BMG Rights Management GmbH, the music-rights company funded by Bertelsmann AG and KKR & Co., made bids for three different sets of assets from Warner Music Group Corp. (WMG), said two people familiar with the talks.
One bid was for Warner Music’s Warner/Chappell publishing business, one for selected European music catalog assets and one for the whole company, the people said, declining to be identified because the talks are private. The bids value the publishing business at between $1.4 billion and $1.5 billion and the whole company at about $2.8 billion, one of the people said.
Warner Music hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) to recruit bidders for all or part of the company while it separately seeks to buy EMI Group Ltd., people familiar with the plans said this year. Citigroup Inc. seized control of EMI after the record label struggled to meet the terms of loans used to finance its takeover by Guy Hands, opening the way for a sale.
BMG is not in talks with Sony Corp. (6758)’s music unit about a joint bid for Warner Music, one of the people said today. The New York Post reported earlier that BMG and Sony may team up to buy the company, without saying where it got the information. Spokespeople for BMG and Sony declined to comment today.
Should BMG win the bid for all of Warner, it would consider selling off some operations, and most likely keep the publishing arm and some European catalogs, one of the people said.
BMG holds the rights to more than 100,000 songs including Aerosmith’s “Walk this Way” and ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin.” Warner Music’s artists include Kid Rock, Missy Elliott, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
A sale of the publishing assets is the most likely outcome so Warner Music can bid for EMI, two people familiar with the process said last month. Selling more than Warner/Chappell publishing may end Warner Music’s pursuit of an EMI deal.
A decision on the sale of any of the assets is expected in mid-April, one of the people said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kristen Schweizer in London at kschweizer1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Simon Thiel in London at sthiel1@bloomberg.net
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