EMI同意Terra Firma收购案

UK music business EMI Group has agreed to be bought by private equity firm Terra Firma for £3.2bn including debt.

The group, whose artists include Robbie Williams and the Beatles, has been the subject of bid speculation for the past year as its business has struggled.

It previously rejected a takeover bid from US industry rival Warner Music.

The firm has seen sales decline dramatically in recent months and said on Thursday that it had made a £260m loss in the past year.

News of the bid sent EMI's shares up 9%.

But analysts said the move was likely to bring other bidders into the fray, potentially including Warner Music.

'Minimum risk'

EMI's board of directors has recommended the 265-per-share offer from Terra Firma but the deal must be approved by the firm's shareholders.

The deal values EMI shares at £2.4bn and including debt, it is worth £3.2bn.

EMI said it had received a number of different offers but that the Terra Firma bid was the most "attractive".

The deal is unlikely to raise the same competition issues as if EMI was being bought by one of its rivals such as Warner Music and could take just months to be completed.

"Terra Firma's offer delivers cash now, without regulatory uncertainty and with the minimum of operational risk to the company," said EMI chairman John Gildersleeve.

Terra Firma is run by Guy Hands, one of the UK's leading financiers.

He said the deal would enable EMI to "build on its current position as one of the world's leading music companies and accelerate the development of its digital and online strategy to fully exploit this long-term growth opportunity".

The employment rights of EMI staff and the firm's pension commitments would be maintained following the deal, Terra Firma added.

EMI, one of the world's "big four" record companies, has suffered a downturn in its fortunes in the past 18 months.

Record sales have been hit by the trend for more digital downloading of music while a number of high-profile album releases have badly disappointed.

EMI announced a radical restructuring plan earlier this year, resulting in the loss of hundreds of jobs in both Europe and the US.

"The global music industry is undergoing significant change," Mr Gildersleeve added.

"Whilst EMI is confident in its ability to deliver its recently announced restructuring plans, significant uncertainty exists as to the timing and extent of future market developments."

Other bidders?

The market is now bracing itself for a counter-bid, with once-spurned Warner Music seen as the most likely candidate.

"It's the beginning, not the end," said Laura Martin, from Soleil Media Metrics, of the situation surrounding EMI.

"We think that it is a good thing for Warner because it gives them a clear price to beat."


[img]http://www.aurora-can.com/news/images/20070521V.jpg[/img]
EMI has been pinning its hopes of new artists like Lily Allen
EMI将希望寄托在莉莉·艾伦等新星身上。


英国百代音乐集团（EMI）周一（5月21日）同意接受私营投资集团Terra Firma出价32亿英镑的收购，包括公司的债务。

EMI音乐集团董事会接受了Terra Firma投资集团每股265便士的现金收购案，并建议股东接受。

这笔现金收购案将EMI市值确定为24亿英镑，如将债务算在内，其市值为32亿英镑。

EMI音乐集团说，该集团收到了许多公司的收购计划，但是Terra Firma公司的最具"吸引力"。

在此之前，EMI曾拒绝了美国华纳唱片集团的收购竞标。

EMI音乐集团营业收入在去年下降16%，截至3月31日，2006年财政年度亏损了2亿6400万英镑。

这一收购案尚待EMI股东的批准。EMI音乐集团董事会主席吉尔德斯利夫说，"Terra Firma的收购案是现金收购，没有竞争监管方面的不确定因素，而且仅对公司造成营运风险也很小。"

私营投资集团Terra Firma是由英国金融家汉兹运营的。他表示，收购案将使EMI成为世界上领先的音乐公司之一，推动其数码和在线策略快速发展，从而实现长远的增长潜力。

EMI音乐集团旗下的艺人包括著名歌星罗宾·威廉姆斯、甲壳虫乐队，以及新加盟的歌星莉莉·艾伦等。

[url]http://www.terrafirma.com/[/url]

Terra Firma is a leading European private equity firm, created in 2002 as the independent successor to the Principal Finance Group, a division of Nomura that was created in 1994. Terra Firma focuses on buyouts of large, asset-rich and complex businesses in need of operational and/or strategic change.

Since its inception in 1994, Terra Firma has invested over €7 billion of equity and has completed transactions with an aggregate transaction value of over €30 billion. Terra Firma has offices in London and Frankfurt.

Guy Hands is Terra Firma Capital Partner’s Chief Executive Officer and Founder. Guy founded Terra Firma in 2002 which raised €2 billion for TFCP II; the largest amount ever raised by a fund seeking external investors for the first time. Guy sits on Terra Firma’s Investment Advisory Committee and General Partners’ boards and is involved in all major commercial issues, in particular those concerning acquisitions, exits and portfolio business strategy.

Guy started his career with Goldman Sachs International where he was for 12 years. In 1986, he was made Head of Eurobond Trading and went on to become Head of Goldman Sach’s Global Asset Structuring Group with responsibility for Origination and Structuring. Guy left Goldman’s in 1994 to establish the Principal Finance Group (PFG) at Nomura International plc. Under Guy, PFG acquired 15 businesses and invested €5.9 billion for Nomura in 15 companies with a highly successful track record.

Guy instigated the spin-out of PFG from Nomura to create Terra Firma Capital Partners Limited. Terra Firma continues to manage Nomura’s European portfolio of private equity investments of approximately €2 billion; these were transferred to TFCP I.

Guy was elected a Global Leader of Tomorrow of the World Economic Forum in 2000 in recognition of his achievements. Guy is also the President of “Access for Excellence”, a campaign based at Mansfield College, Oxford, which promotes the broadest possible access to higher education in the UK. He is a Bancroft Fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford, and a member of the University of Oxford Chancellor’s Court of Benefactors. Additionally, Guy is a Fellow of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme.



[img]http://www.aurora-can.com/news/images/20070521VI.jpg[/img]
Terra Firma CEO及创始人Guy Hands1982年毕业于牛津大学Mansfield学院。

Lily Allen was born in Hammersmith, London. She and her family eventually settled in the North London borough of Islington.
Lily Allen出生于伦敦的[url=http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Hammersmith&ie=UTF8&ll=51.51152,-0.225906&spn=0.745271,1.867676&z=9&om=1]Hammersmith[/url]区。后来她们家在北伦敦的Islington住下来。

[img]http://www.aurora-can.com/news/images/20070521IX.jpg[/img]
Hammersmith Bridge, London


[img]http://www.aurora-can.com/news/images/20070521X.jpg[/img]
Islington, London


Her father is the comedian, actor and television presenter Keith Allen, her mother is the film producer Alison Owen.
At the age of three, she was seen briefly in the UB40 video featured in The Comic Strip Presents: The Yob, co-written by her father.

She has an older sister, Sarah; a younger brother, Alfie Owen-Allen (who was the subject of her song "Alfie") and another little sister Rebecca; also a number of half-siblings, including her half-sister, Teddy.

Lily has also lived with her mother in Leixlip, County Kildare, Ireland where she went to Scoil Bhride, a local primary school.

Allen was accused by some of cultivating a chav image, but she actually enjoyed a highly privileged upbringing, attending the private schools Hill House and Bedales, famous as one of the five most expensive schools in the UK.

Allen changed schools 13 times during her childhood and was expelled from several of them. When asked about it on the Jo Whiley show on BBC Radio 1, she explained "Education is great for some people, but for me it just wasn't."

Lily Allen小时候转学13次，被其中的几所学校开除。她在BBC Radio 1的访问节目中说：教育对一些人来说很重要，但对我来说却不是。