Good news for, erm, well, no one really. Oh, accept for Morgan Stanley, he's probably a happy chap this morning. And the more acquisitive execs at Universal Music will presumably also smile at the news that the Office Of Fair Trading has given the all clear for the major's acquisition of former Richard Branson owned independent V2, which was sold by its most recent owner, investment bank Morgan Stanley, to the major earlier this year.
The Association Of Independent Music had told the OFT that Universal's latest indie acquisition would stifle competition and narrow consumer choice, but officials there didn't seem to agree. Welcoming the OFT approval, Universal said in a statement yesterday: "We are pleased that the Office of Fair Trading has cleared our purchase of the V2 Music Group, as we had anticipated. Efforts to portray this acquisition as anti-competitive were always without merit. Now we look forward to working closely with V2 and Cooperative Music artists, labels and staff".
The approval gives the green light for Universal to take V2 into a brand new phase, you know, one with no staff or artists, it's all very exciting. As previously reported, V2 will be merged into Universal's Mercury division, who will release new work from the former indie's main artists. Only a handful of V2's workforce will move to Universal, with the majority being made redundant. What portion of V2's artist roster will be dropped post merger is unclear, though the major is known to be keen to continue with the former indie's Cooperative Music scheme, which saw them work with other smaller indies like Wichita, Bella Union, Memphis Industries, Luaka Bop and Rabid.