The EMI Rumors Continue

What's Next For EMI?

On FRIDAY (NET NEWS 11/12), ALL ACCESS reported that EMI GROUP CEO ROGER FAXON was busy trying to dispel "crazy headlines" about the music label in the wake of the CITIGROUP win over TERRA FIRMA in court (NET NEWS 11/4) over the purchase of EMI.

Nonetheless, the headlines are still coming, with the U.K.'s THE GUARDIAN reporting YESTERDAY (11/14) that "WARNER MUSIC is contemplating a $750m (£470m) bid for EMI's recorded music division. WALL STREET sources say it could be lodged with EMI's owner, private-equity group TERRA FIRMA, within weeks. Although TERRA FIRMA boss GUY HANDS says he is not interested in a sale, [HANDS] is understood to be under pressure from CITIGROUP to do a deal."

The report claims CITIGROUP would support a WMG purchase of EMI's recorded music division. The bank would also be behind an offer to "cancel debt in return for taking control of EMI's music publishing arm, which owns the rights to albums by artists such as PINK FLOYD and THE BEATLES and is valued at more than $2bn."

NUMIS SECURITIES' PAUL RICHARDS told THE GUARDIAN, "I always assumed the recorded music operations of EMI and WARNER would be merged; on their own they are much smaller than those of UNIVERSAL and SONY, but together they would create a business with substantial scale."

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