GUTERSLOH, Germany: Media giant Bertelsmann says it has accepted a €1.63 billion ($2.09bn; £1.1bn) bid from Universal Music for its BMG music publishing arm.
The auction of BMG, which owns the copyrights to songs by Coldplay and Christina Aguilera, was undertaken to help defray the costs of €4.5bn share buyback [WAMN: 05-Sept-06].
Among others reported to be in the bidding were Warner Music Group and Viacom.
Universal, a division of French conglomerate Vivendi, will need regulatory approval before the deal is inked.
Data sourced from BBC Online; additional content by WARC staff
