Bertie's on Fire with BMG

BERTIE’S BEAT GOES ON: BMG Rights Management, the music publishing company formed by Bertelsmann with private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, helmed by CEO Hartwig Masuch and CCO Richard Blackstone, has been especially aggressive this year, and could be one of the finalists for EMI Music Publishing, if it were to eventually go on the block. Vowing to increase their funding for expansion, the company acquired Chrysalis Music Publishing last month for $168m, Evergreen Copyrights in Sept. for $80m and Cherry Lane Music in March for $150 million. These three signifcant deals make BMG the world’s fourth-largest music publisher in global marketshare. (12/6p)