Universal Music Group Completes Sale Of Parlophone Label Group

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Jul 01, 2013, 11:35 ET

SANTA MONICA, Calif., July 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's leading music company, today announced that it has completed its previously announced sale of Parlophone Label Group (PLG) to Warner Music Group for £487 million.

"We are very pleased to complete this transaction – another great step forward positioning Universal Music to fully capitalize on music's many new and exciting opportunities," said Lucian Grainge, Chairman & CEO of UMG. "Over the course of the past year, we successfully acquired the recorded music assets of the legendary British music company EMI, revitalized its iconic Capitol Records and Virgin Records and further strengthened UMG's position as the global leader in music. Now, given PLG's strong valuation, the transaction's proceeds provide us significant resources for our global reinvestment program rebuilding EMI, preserving its heritage and helping all of UMG lead the industry's digital transformation – and even better able to serve artists, songwriters and business partners, while offering fans more choice."

Following its successful purchase of the company last year, UMG acquired such iconic EMI labels and domestic operations as Virgin, Capitol, Blue Note, Christian Music Group, Capitol Nashville, Canada, Australia, Italy, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Japan and Latin America and South Africa, among others. Artists include such chart-topping superstars as The Beatles, Katy Perry, Emeli Sande, Robbie Williams, Swedish House Mafia, The Beach Boys, Lady Antebellum, Herbert Gronemeyer, Norah Jones, Tiziano Ferro, Hikaru Utada, Vasco Rossi, Helene Fischer, Smashing Pumpkins, 30 Seconds to Mars, Yumi Matsutoya, Keith Urban, Frank Sinatra, Empire of The Sun and Corinne Bailey Rae, among many others.

UMG were advised by Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch on financial matters, and SJ Berwin, Shearman & Sterling and Smiths Law on legal matters.

ABOUT UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP

Universal Music Group is the global music leader, with wholly owned operations in 60 territories. Its businesses also include Universal Music Publishing Group, one of the industry's premier music publishing operations worldwide.

Universal Music Group's record labels include A&M/Octone, Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol Records, Decca, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Grammophon, Disa, Emarcy, Fonovisa, Geffen Records, Interscope Records, I.R.S., Island Records, Lost Highway Records, Machete Music, Manhattan, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Motown Records, Polydor Records, Republic Records, Universal Music Latino, Verve Music Group and Virgin Records, as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. The Universal Music Group owns the most extensive catalogue of music in the industry, which includes the last 100 years of the world's most popular artists and their recordings. UMG's catalogue is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing (outside the U.S.). Universal Music Group also includes Global Digital Business, its new media and technologies division and Bravado, its merchandising company.

Universal Music Group is a fully owned subsidiary of Vivendi.

SOURCE Universal Music Group