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Universal’s EMI takeover gets green light in Canada
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 21 August 2012
While Universal Music continues to negotiate with competition regulators in Europe and the US to gain approval for its bid to buy the EMI record company, another competition regulator elsewhere in the world has give the takeover the all clear, Canada. The Canadian Competition Bureau follows its counterparts in Japan and New Zealand in green-lighting the major label merger. No concessions were required.
Universal said in a statement: “We are pleased that the Canadian Competition Bureau has cleared Universal Music’s proposed acquisition of EMI with no objections. This follows similar clearances in Japan and New Zealand. Our investment in EMI will create more opportunities for new and established artists, expand music output and consumer choice, and support new digital services. We welcome the Bureau’s decision and will continue to work closely with regulators in other jurisdictions to obtain further clearances”.
As much previously reported, Universal execs are still negotiating with competition officials in Europe, where the regulator is thought to be pushing for a commitment to sell-off the global rights to some key EMI artist catalogues, in addition to offloading the various European EMI units and catalogues Universal has already pledged to sell if the acquisition goes ahead.