The Latest Name Interested In EMI? Ron Perelman

Ron Perelman

Last week (NET NEWS 9/27), THE LOS ANGELES TIMES reported, "EMI MUSIC's owner, CITIGROUP, has asked a select group of bidders to submit their best offers for the storied British music company by OCTOBER 5th, according to executives familiar with the auction. The bank, which took over EMI in FEBRUARY and formally put the company up for sale in JUNE, has been entertaining preliminary bids from private equity firms, such as PLATINUM EQUITY, as well as other music companies, including WARNER MUSIC GROUP, SONY CORP., BMG CHRYSALIS and UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP."

Now, THE FINANCIAL TIMES reports, "RONALD PERELMAN, the billionaire buy-out investor, is vying with four of the world’s largest music companies for control of EMI, after private equity bidders backed off before this week’s deadline for second-round bids for the U.K. music company that fell into the hands of its bank in FEBRUARY."

PERELMAN runs MACANDREWS & FORBES'S, a privately held holding group for assets including REVLON COSMETICS. PERELMAN also owns DELUXE, a film processing business.

As for other bidders for EMI, FT notes, "One person familiar with the auction process said other wealthy parties including RON BURKLE, the billionaire investor who bid for WARNER MUSIC, could still show their hands, but people close to the auction said private equity bidders had fallen away."

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