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Business News Labels & Publishers
BMG and Imagem bidding for Chrysalis
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 9 November 2010
According to the Financial Times, BMG Rights Management and its rivals Imagem are both definitely bidding for London-based independent music publisher Chrysalis. I think we’d all guessed that already, but there you go. As previously reported, Chrysalis admitted it was considering merger and takeover proposals again last week.
BMG, backed by equity group KKR, and Imagem, owned by Dutch pension fund ABP, are both known to be looking for good publishing catalogues to acquire, and Chrysalis has some great publishing catalogues. Though, according to the FT, they aren’t the only interested parties in buying the London company. The newspaper reckons Sony’s publishing firm, Sony/ATV, is also considering making a bid.
Warner Music isn’t considering a bid for Chrysalis, gossipers reckon, because it is waiting for EMI to implode next year when the London-based major has to ask recently bruised owners Terra Firma for a £100 million cash injection to meet banking covenants.
It is widely expected that if EMI was up for sale Warner would bid for at least the recordings part of the business, which it could probably get at a knock down rate in any fire sale, other bidders likely to be much more interested in EMI’s publishing catalogue.
