FT: 9 bids on Parlophone

GENTLEMAN CALLERS ON THE PARLOPHONE: The U.K.'s Financial Times is citing the ever-reliable "industry sources" to allege that 12 offers have thus far been tendered for Parlophone, the queen of the musical assets UMG must divest as a condition of its EMI acquisition. We most recently shared a report that a Simon Fuller-Chris Blackwell offer (now going by the glossily corporate moniker "Blackwell Fuller"), backed by Lord Rothschild's RIT Capital Partners, was in the offing. The FT (though its list hardly reaches 12) adds such previously speculated-upon suitors as WMG and BMG, not to mention former Virgin ruler Jason Flom and Ronald Perelman's investment firm MacAndrews & Forbes, and shares more "sourced" wisdom that WMG, Blackwell Fuller and Perelman also had their eyes on Sanctuary, Mute and the money-minting Now compilations. As knowers know, Parlophone and the other asset dispositions could fetch as much as a half-billion pounds, which--given current economic forecasts for the Eurozone--will almost be enough to buy a new iPad. (11/15a)