Goldman, GTCR bid for BMG Music Publishing

LONDON (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs' private equity arm and Chicago-based private equity firm GTCR submitted separate bids for BMG Music Publishing, people familiar with the sale said on Monday.

The people, speaking on condition of anonymity, said GTCR bid as part of a team led by U.S. media executive Charles Koppleman, while Goldman Sachs Capital Partners bid alone.

The two groups submitted bids by Thursday's deadline. One of the sources said the bids were between 1.25 billion euros (844 million pounds) and 1.5 billion euros. Both Goldman Sachs and GTCR declined to comment.

Charles Koppleman ran EMI's Music Publishing business between 1990 and 1994 and is currently chairman of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. as well as running a music and entertainment business, CAK Entertainment Inc.

The group, which owns the rights to thousands of songs including hits by Christina Aguilera and Coldplay, is being sold by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann to help fund its 4.5 billion euro buyback of a minority stake in the company.

Sources told Reuters last week that U.S. media conglomerate Viacom had teamed up with private equity group Apollo to submit an offer, while Warner Music Group and Vivendi's Universal Music also turned in offers by the deadline.

Other suitors originally in the frame included a consortium of EMI Group with U.S. buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. The pair were believed not to have submitted an offer by Thursday's deadline but one of the sources on Monday said KKR did submit a bid on its own.

KKR could not be reached immediately for comment.

BMG, which is being advised by JP Morgan and Citigroup , is set to sift through the bids over the next week to 10 days and then inform prospective buyers as to the next stage.

The Goldman Sach Capital Partners bid is the latest foray by the buyout arm of the U.S. bank into the private equity world. It also comes at a time of heightened sensitivity about Goldman's investment activities after concerns over potential conflicts of interest with clients against whom it could be bidding.

Last month, the group snapped up 54 percent of French directory business PageJaunes from France Telecom in conjunction with KKR.

Just days before it backed a $15 billion (7.9 billion pounds) buyout of U.S. oil and gas pipeline operator Kinder Morgan and earlier this year it fought a tough battle to win Britain's Associated British Ports for 2.8 billion pounds.