EMI: All Bets Off?

First, the private equity firms were reportedly going cold on EMI because it’s nigh impossible to raise finance for leveraged buyouts.

Next it was new Warner Music Group owner Len Blavatnik, who was said to be losing interest because the bidding process is taking too long.

Now the UK’s Financial Times reckons nobody is sufficiently interested to buy the London-based major music company for the sort of money owner Citigroup wants.

The FT reckons the U.S. bank is on the point of abandoning the bidding process if it can’t squeeze a bit more out of the players that are still hanging around the table.

The FT says the offers that arrived before the Oct. 5 deadline valued EMI’s music publishing business somewhere between $1.7 billion and $2.5 billion.

The offers for the recorded music business ranged from $1 billion to $1.3 billion.

It seems nobody is sufficiently interested in EMI to want both parts of the company.

That means the sale of the business is unlikely to be become a regulatory issue, although it does sort of put the kibosh on EMI chief exec Roger Faxon’s hope that the company can continue as one entity. That is, unless Citi hangs on to it.