12:02 p.m. | Updated The Warner Music Group, the smallest of the three remaining major record companies, said on Thursday that it had reached an agreement to pay $765 million for the Parlophone Label Group, a collection of EMI assets that includes artists like Coldplay, Pink Floyd and the Beach Boys.
The sale was mandated by European regulators as part of the Universal Music Group’s $1.9 billion purchase of EMI last year.
“This is a very important milestone for Warner Music, reflecting our commitment to artist development by strengthening our worldwide roster, global footprint and executive talent,” Len Blavatnik, the founder of Access Industries, Warner’s parent company, said in a statement.
The Parlophone group consists of EMI’s Parlophone, Chrysalis and other labels, along with EMI subsidiary companies across Europe. Universal will retain EMI’s Capitol and Virgin labels, including artists like the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Katy Perry and Lady Antebellum. (In a separate sale, an investor consortium led by Sony bought EMI’s music publishing assets.)
The deal is a win for Warner, which since 2000 has made several unsuccessful efforts to buy or merge with EMI. In addition to greater market share, it will allow Warner to bulk up its relatively weak international infrastructure. Since buying Warner two years ago for $3.3 billion, Mr. Blavatnik has shaken up the company’s management, bringing in the corporate turnaround expert Stephen Cooper as chief executive and Robert Wiesenthal, a former Sony executive, as its operations chief.
The deal is also a win for Universal, which came under intense pressure during the deal’s regulatory review process in Europe but ended up with a higher price than had been expected. Early estimates for the EMI’s castoffs, which represent about a third of the company’s recorded music assets, were more than $500 million. But with some smaller assets yet to be sold, Universal could reap well over $800 million, vastly reducing the price it paid to acquire the bulk of EMI.
The deal closed early Thursday after negotiations through the night, with Warner offering a significantly higher bid than any competitors, according to three people briefed on the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations were private. Sony Music and BMG Rights Management had made a joint bit, as did the music impresarios Simon Fuller and Chris Blackwell; the other major bidder was Ronald Perelman’s company MacAndrews & Forbes.
Warner’s deal must be approved by the European Commission, but it is not expected to face the same objections from smaller music firms that had dogged Universal’s original EMI bid.
Martin Mills, the chairman of the independent Beggars Group, who had been a vocal opponent of Universal’s original deal, said in a statement that Warner’s acquisition of the Parlophone assets “is the best result for the market, given the Commission’s expressed desire to create a countervailing force to the established duopoly of Universal and Sony.”