So, lots of commentary in both the UK and US press on the EMI board's previously reported approval of a takeover bid from Terra Firma.
As the major record company's shareholders now consider the board's recommendation to sell to the private equity firm (board members with shares have reportedly committed to sell as part of the deal with Terra Firma), some reckon that other private equity houses who had previously been seemingly unwilling to go above 255p a share may now bid at or above Terra Firma's 265p offer, confirming earlier rumours the EMI board were courting various private equity types to create a bidding war.
Others also reckon that Warner will still win through in the end, by coming in with the highest bid at the end of the day and winning over the majority of the major's shareholders, despite the board recommendation, which would confirm those other earlier rumours, that the EMI board were courting private equity types primarily to force Warner into making a higher merger bid.
Others still reckon Warner will let Terra Firma buy EMI, and then buy it off them, letting the private equity firm go through the hassle of dealing with the plethora of shareholders required to sell. Whether any of these commentary types have any grounds for their idle speculation I don't know, but everyone seems to agree that the EMI ownership story is not, as yet, closed. Time will tell of course.
What the rumours regarding the possible purchase of the Sanctuary Group mean for Warner's current EMI ambitions I don't know, but despite reports that Warner were not among those who have recently expressed an interest in acquiring the struggling cross-sector music group, the Guardian now reports they are considering a bid. Whether that means they've given up on their attempts to acquire EMI, or they are using a Sanctuary bid as a contingency plan, or they think they'll get EC approval for both an EMI and a Sanctuary takeover I don't know.
You might wonder if European regulators would really let Warner takeover both EMI and an independent as large as Sanctuary in the same breath, though the Guardian says another possible Sanctuary bidder is Universal Music, and at the end of the day, if the regulators were willing to allow a Universal takeover of Sanctuary, then there'd be no real reason for blocking an EMI/Warner takeover of Sanctuary.