EMI chairman Eric Nicoli today said he was optimistic that EMI's merger with Time Warner's music division will be cleared by the competition authorities.
"On the regulatory approval front, we are at the very start of the process," he said. "But we think we have a compelling case and we are optimistic."
Between them, the pair will have a global market share of 20%, even higher in certain regions. However, Mr Nicoli, who will be co-chairman of the new Warner-EMI Music, believes there is little to fear from industry watchdogs such as the US federal trade commission and the European commission.
The companies said they complement each other geographically, with Warner Music Group's strength in the US and EMI's strong market positions across Europe and other countries. The enlarged group would be a leading source of music for both traditional sales in shops and, more importantly, over the internet; Time Warner's merger with America Online would give EMI an unprecedented opportunity to sell via the internet.
"It enhances our ability to realise the opportunities present by the internet and other new media, and it will allow us to deliver all of our main strategic objectives in a dramatically shorter timeframe," Mr Nicoli said.
The alliance between EMI and Warner Music will assemble a huge talent pool, including the Rolling Stones and Madonna. The new company will have combined sales of more than £5bn and rank second only behind Seagram's Universal music group. Time Warner and EMI would each control half of the new company, to be called Warner EMI Music. It would have combined revenues of £4.9bn and a pretax profit of £650 million.
Warner EMI Music will be headquartered in New York, with international headquarters in London. Mr Nicoli and Time Warner president Richard Parsons are to be co-chairmen of the merged company.
The new firm would represent some 2,500 musicians. EMI brings to the deal the Virgin, Priority and Capitol record labels - including names like the Spice Girls, Van Morrison and Frank Sinatra. Time Warner contributes its Atlantic, Elektra and Warner Brothers labels that include Cher, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Madonna, Metallica and REM.
The merger marks the end of Britain's last great music company. EMI led the pack in the swinging sixties when the Beatles were the most famous group on the planet and Abbey Road the most instantly recognisable recording studio.
"It's a shame to see the last major British music company effectively fall into overseas hands," said Alison Wenham, chief executive of the Association of Independent Music.
Lorna Tilbian, analyst at the brokerage house WestLB Panmure, agreed: "EMI is one of the few UK companies with a double digit market share in every global market. It has a back catalogue that has taken over a century to put together and to drift into American hands in the digital age when you want to be world leaders as well is a bit of a shame," she said.
Meanwhile, German media giant Bertelsmann, long rumoured as a suitor for EMI, denied reports that it was preparing a bid of its own for the British company to break up the deal.
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