EMI Bids Fall Short of Expectations
Bids for EMI Music Group came in lower than expected this month, according to the New York Times.
Cititgroup first put EMI on the auction block in June, after taking it over when Terra Firma didn’t meet its loan requirements.
EMI Music Group includes the publishing and recorded music divisions, which could be sold separately. In June the company as a whole was expected to draw as much as $4 billion.
The most recent round of bids brought higher offerings for the separate divisions than for the company as a whole.
For the recorded music division, bids have ranged from $1-1.3 billion reports NYT. Suitors include Warner Music Group (recently purchased by Russian investor Len Blavatnik), Universal Music Group, and Ronald Perelman’s holding company MacAndrews & Forbes.
EMI’s publishing unit has drawn offers of $1.75 – 2 billion from Sony and BMG Rights Management.
