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Sony said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sony Corporation of America, reached an agreement to buy all of the interest in EMI Music Publishing that is currently held by Mubadala's consortium.
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Sony Corporation of America will acquire all of about 60.2 percent interest from the consortium for an acquisition price of approximately $1.9 billion.
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Though the final purchase price is subject to customary closing adjustment, Sony said it expects to pay about $2.3 billion for the deal that would give the company a 90 percent indirect equity interest in the music publisher.
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EMI Music Publishing owns or administers over two million songs, including classics by Queen and Carole King, as well as contemporary songs from Kanye West, Drake, Sam Smith and others
A wholly owned Sony 6758.T-JP subsidiary, Sony Corporation of America, reached an agreement to buy all of the interest in EMI Music Publishing that is currently held by a consortium of Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment for about $1.9 billion.
Sony said it expects to pay a total of about $2.3 billion for the majority stake in EMI Music Publishing, which it hopes will strengthen its entertainment portfolio, the Japanese company said Tuesday.
That additional $400 million will be paid to existing stakeholders at EMI Music Publishing in order to facilitate the acquisition, a representative from Sony clarified to CNBC.
Mubadala's consortium owns about 60 percent equity interest in the music publisher, while Sony holds most of the rest. But Mubadala's financial investment arm has managed EMI Music Publishing on behalf of investors since 2012.
If the transaction goes through, Sony will indirectly own about 90 percent of the equity interest in EMI Music Publishing, which would become a consolidated subsidiary, Sony said in a statement. Still, the final purchase price remains subject to customary closing adjustments.
Queen, Kanye West, Drake and more
EMI Music Publishing owns or administers over two million songs. Those include classics by Queen and Carole King, as well as contemporary songs from Kanye West, Drake, Sam Smith and others. Sony, meanwhile, owns more than 2.3 million copyrights through its wholly owned subsidiaries Sony/ATV and Sony Music Entertainment.
"This is one area where there's plenty of long-term growth," Atul Goyal, senior analyst at Jefferies, told CNBC's " Squawk Box " on Tuesday. "This is music publishing, which is the rights to music writing, lyrics, song writing, etc. Recorded music is separate, on which Sony already has lots of rights."