Chrysalis is no longer for sale, everybody. The UK based music firm said yesterday that it had rejected a 155p per share cash offer from one of its preferred bidders, and that all other takeover talks were now off.
As previously reported, having sold off its radio stations to Global Radio last June, Chrysalis let it be known late last year that they were also accepting offers to buy their music businesses - a small record label and distribution company and, much more attractive to potential buyers, a substantial publishing catalogue.
While various parties - mainly major music companies and private equity types - expressed an interest in acquiring the Chrysalis music company, it was widely known that Chairman and significant shareholder Chris Wright, while willing to sell, wasn't desperate to sell, and so would only do a deal if the right price was offered. That said, some experts suggested that changes in UK capital gains tax laws, which would have a negative impact on Wright's personal profits from any sale, might persuade him to accept an offer below his original expectations if, because of the tax law change, a quick sale would still make him better off. But no quick sale came before the tax change came in at the start of the month.
Chrysalis wouldn't reveal who made the 155p per share offer yesterday, nor what price the music company themselves were looking for. Though the company's CEO, Jeremy Lascelles, did tell Billboard that the 155p offer, which would have valued the whole company at £104 million, was "woefully short" of what the company's board were looking for. In their official statement on the matter Chrysalis admitted that they accepted that that there "credit crunch" had affected how much bidders were willing to offer, implying that - given we already know Wright wasn't in any rush to sell - they'd rather wait for less tricky economic times when much bigger cash offers may be made.