Universal Music has reportedly received the approval of American anti-trust officials regarding its proposed takeover of Bertelsmann's BMG Music Publishing company. The US Federal Trade Commission have reportedly assessed the 1.63 billion euro takeover deal and have concluded that it can go ahead without any further investigation on their part. As previously reported, Universal will merge the BMG publishing company which its own publishing division creating a new combined company the same size, or slightly bigger, than current market leader EMI Music Publishing.
But, of course, US approval does not mean Universal's takeover proposals are now ready to go. No one expected there to be any problems getting US approval for the takeover anyway, the challenge will be in Europe where European Commission officials are still assessing the proposals. As previously reported, pan-European independent music trade body IMPALA will oppose the merger, and, given their recent success in having EC approval for the 2004 SonyBMG merger overturned, European approval for the deal is by no means assured.