Reports (actually, many reports, though those reports may just be reporting on Billboard's report, I'm not sure) suggest that Vivendi's Universal Music Group will today acquire Bertelsmann's BMG Music Publishing company, regulator approval permitting.
Sources close to the sale of the music publishing company say Universal's bid, worth over US$2 billion in cash, has been all but accepted by Bertelsmann's board, who, as previously reported, are selling the publishing outfit to help finance a deal from earlier this year which saw the German conglom buy out a former 25% shareholder.
Assuming the deal goes ahead, Universal is expected to merge BMG Music Publishing with its own publishing house, Universal Music Publishing, which would mean that Vivendi would own not only the biggest record company in the world (Universal Music Group), but also the biggest music publishing house.
To go ahead the deal will require approval from both US and European competition officials. The former are unlikely to raise any objections to the deal, although with the European Commission some concerns may be raised given the sensitivities regarding the consolidation of the music industry after the European Courts overturned the previous EC decision to allow Sony and BMG to merge their record companies.
That said, the consensus seems to be that mergers in the publishing sector are unlikely to be blocked, mainly because the publishing firms are not directly consumer facing.