Warner Music is to make its latest attempt to buy EMI, the record group behind Norah Jones and Coldplay, joining three financial bidders in the £3bn ($5.9bn) battle for the UK music group.
The US music company, led by Edgar Bronfman, has begun due diligence after gaining access to EMI's books. Private equity firms Fortress, Cerberus Capital Management and One Equity are also going through EMI's data room.
Warner Music has tried repeatedly to merge with EMI. Last summer, Warner offered 320p a share, and then in March, following an EMI profit warning, approached the UK group with a tentative offer of 260p.
EMI chairman John Gildersleeve has opened up a data room at investment bank Greenhill & Co's offices and has asked potential bidders to submit firm offers by May 23 - the day EMI is set to report financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31.
Deutsche Bank and Citigroup are advising EMI boss Eric Nicoli on the deal, but sources said Gildersleeve and Greenhill are driving the process.
While the interest of private equity firms One Equity Partners, Fortress, Cerberus and Terra Firma is indeed real, without the cost-savings available to Warner Music, none of them can come close to the 260 pence offer the rival music label already has on the table.
Source: Various
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