EMI May Attract Takeover Bids

EMI Group, owner of the rights to songs by bands including the Beatles, Pink Floyd and Deep Purple, may attract takeover bids as pressure mounts for the company to sell assets.

Warner Music Group and BMG Rights have both previously expressed an interest in buying EMI's publishing assets, Bloomberg News said. BMG, a music-rights company, said it's interested in EMI's catalog.

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"We're confident it's the right time and we will use opportunities," BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch told Bloomberg News. Masuch said there are currently no talks between the two sides.

Warner attempted to take over EMI in 2007 and also considered a bid last year.

EMI is under pressure to sell assets to meet debt repayments to creditors including Citigroup Inc (C).

Investment group Terra Firma Capital Partners controls EMI. Terra Firma owner Guy Hands recently lost a court battle in which he claimed a Citigroup executive lied to him, leading Terra Firma overbid for EMI.

"The next breach of covenant, which is probably imminent, will lead to Citi taking over EMI," Claire Enders, of music and entertainment industry research firm Enders Analysis Ltd., told Bloomberg News. "There was no pot of money gained in this lawsuit."