Warner Music Group & KKR Preparing EMI Bid

NEW YORK (Hypebot) –
Warner Music Group is in talks with private equity group KKR to launch a bid for to buy portions of EMI. The two have met to structure a deal if the music group is put up for sale in the coming months, according to reports. EMI is under an end of March deadline to offer a restructuring plan or lender Citigroup may take over.

KKR is said to be most interested in EMI usually profitable publishing arm, and WMG has coveted the recorded music division for nearly a decade. Observers put the value of EMI Music Publishing at £1.2B ($1.8B US), but a sale price for the rest of EMI's assets is much tougher to calculate. Recorded music accounted for 55% of EMI’s £293M ($4.4M US) earnings last year before restructuring costs, but declining sales and a discontent roster of artists leave observers wondering how much the company will be worth in the future.