Universal Music bids for BMG
Vivendi arm puts $2 bn on the table
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According to reports, Universal has made a bid of about $2 billion for the company, which counts songs by Coldplay, Robbie Williams, Christina Aguilera, the Bee Gees, Elvis Costello, The Cure, R. Kelly, Annie Lennox, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Maroon5, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake among its catalog of more than 700,000 works.
Neither BMG nor Universal would comment, but it is understood that there are more than a dozen parties involved in the bidding for the company, including the publishing arms of EMI Group and Warner Music.
German media conglomerate Bertelsmann, which owns BMG Music Publishing, is believed to be mulling over offers in a second round of bidding. It is selling the company to finance a deal to buy back the 25% stake of Bertelsmann that was owned by Groupe Bruxelles Lambert.
However, if Bertelsmann does agree to sell the division to a music company, the deal is likely to come under scrutiny from competition authorities.
Earlier this week, indie music trade body Impala noted its concern about the publishing house being sold to another major music operator. Impala recently emerged victorious from the European Court in a ruling that could lead to the de-merger of SonyBMG Music.
In a statement to the European Commission, Impala said: "A trade sale of any major publisher to another would strengthen existing collective dominance in publishing and the functioning of the collective societies, online licensing and synchronization markets. IMPALA takes the view that any such move would be unable to obtain regulatory approval."
