Anyone that’s been following our coverage of EMI Music knows that the music group has been on some pretty shaky ground financially. The group’s owner, Terra Firma, is asking investors for about $557 million to keep them from being sold. Now Reuters reports that Sony Music may be considering a bid for them.
Back in March, EMI had held talks with both Sony and Universal about a licensing deal in North America, but nothing came to fruition. However, in a quote in German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (that name beats the hell out of the Times!) Sony Music head Rolf Schmidt-Holz was quoted as saying “We are in a position that allows us to seize every opportunity in the market – including EMI.”
Meanwhile Terra Firma needs the financial support of 75% of its fund’s 200 investors by this Friday (14), when they’ll present a compliance certificate to Citigroup showing they can meet its current obligations. New EMI Executive Chairman Charles Allen is apparently looking at some new business plans for the company, according to premier-finance.com. Those include selling off their Japanese business and possibly having Warner Music distribute them in America, with them making an upfront payment. However, unlike Schimidt-Holz, Warner CEO Edgar Bronfman gave no comment.
EMI Labels include Capitol and Virgin, while EMI distributes metal labels including Century Media, Nuclear Blast and Earache.
