EMI could betch $b+, says FT

FT GOES HIGH ON EMI: Bids for EMI suggest that the company could fetch north of $4 billion, $700 million more than Len Blavatnik paid for Warner Music, the Financial Times reports. That figure would allow Citigroup to recoup about three-quarters of the money it lent to Guy Hands in 2007, closing the book on an epic misadventure the bank is eager to put in the rearview mirror. According to FT’s sources, first-round preliminary bids from “more than 10 suitors” ranged from just over $3 billion to closer to $4 billion. Some characterized a price tag of more than $4 billion as “aspirational” but said that the final price would depend on whether the business was sold as one, or split between publishing and recorded music, the latter scenario presumably resulting in a larger total. Between four and six preliminary offers were for the whole company, these people said, with the rest split between bidders wanting only recorded music and more highly valued EMI Music Publishing, with its 1.3 million-song catalog. (8/4a)