Sony now owns the biggest collection of music publishing assets in the world.
The music giant gained that distinction yesterday when US regulators rubber-stamped its $2.2 billion purchase of EMI?s publishing division from Citibank.
The sale caps a rough 16-month period for the storied, 82-year-old music brand ? which had been bank-owned since February 2011 when its former owner defaulted on its loan.
The EMI name ? which used to stand for Electric and Musical Industries ? will be phased out in most regions, the company told The Post, and EMI?s 1.3 million songs, including post-Beatles works of John Lennon, will be reunited with the Lennon-McCartney catalog currently housed by Sony/ATV, a joint venture of Sony and the Michael Jackson estate.
Sony will run the venture but won?t own the entire business. It has a 40 -percent stake alongside a host of investors, including: David Geffen, Blackstone?s GSO Capital Partners, Mubadala Development and Jynwel Capital.
EMI owns the publishing rights to Rihanna and Amy Winehouse and a storeful of other names.
The total asset value of the two companies is between $4 billion and $5 billion, sources said. As part of the deal, Sony agreed to sell Virgin music and Famous Music UK.
Martin Bandier, who once ran EMI and now heads Sony/ATV, described the purchase, approved yesterday by the Federal Trade Commission, as a ?story book ending.?
?I have a free hand to grow and build it,? he told The Post. ?I know the assets and love them, and can hum most of them.?
Bandier declined to talk about possible lay-offs as a result of the combination.
Separately, the FTC and the EU are still weighing Universal Music Group? s $1.9 billion bid for EMI?s music division.
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