Could Required Cuts In UMG/EMI Deal In Europe Be A Deal Breaker?

Will Requirement In Europe Make Deal "Unprofitable"?

In a meeting YESTERDAY (8/9), EU Regulators told UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP the cuts they've offered in order to get approval for purchasing EMI MUSIC don't go far enough. Some analysts feel the cuts the regulators want go so far as to jeopardize the deal.

BLOOMBERG reports UMG "and European Union regulators met YESTERDAY to discuss if the offer to sell 60% of EMI's European assets satisfies competition concerns, according to a person familiar with the matter. Some third parties who looked at the proposals under an EU review process say they don't go far enough in reducing the presence of the world's largest record company in some European markets, according to two other people."

"If UNIVERSAL MUSIC has to give up the global rights for everything it would push the deal toward unprofitability," said INFORMA MEDIA & TELECOMS Analyst SIMON DYSON told BLOOMBERG. "UNIVERSAL has invested a lot of money into this deal and if it doesn't go through, then they have to sell EMI, and companies won't offer them anything near what they paid for it."

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