ROGER THAT: CITIGROUP TO SELL EMI AS A WHOLE

EMI chief Roger Faxon has been extremely vocal from the getgo that a breakup would hurt the company, even as Citi has pondered the best way to recoup the cash it has tied up in EMI after loaning Guy Hands billions for the buyout.

In what could be huge news for the embattled music group, sources tell Post media reporters Claire Atkinson and Mark DeCambre that Citi has genuinely come around to Faxon’s view—rather than merely giving it lip service, as the tone of earlier statements suggested—and now agrees that selling the entire music group is the best, most practical option.

The bank is preparing a financial book now that EMI has closed its fiscal Q4, which ended March 31.

Citi's decision could weigh on the ongoing auction of Warner Music, the story continues. Some participants in the WMG sale process have floated the notion of combining the companies' recorded-music divisions or their pubcos. Indeed, as our own I.B. Bad has repeatedly detailed in recent months, Warner has itself looked at the possibility of selling Warner/Chappell in order to join forces with EMI's recorded-music division.

But one source has suggested to the Post that EMI has recently been restructured in such a way that makes it difficult to unhook publishing from recorded music. EMI execs have reportedly worked to integrate those businesses so that one slim corporate structure is now overseeing both.

WMG brass, presumably led by Edgar Bronfman and T.H. Lee Partners point man Scott Sperling, are expected to meet today to go over bids and move toward the conclusion of its sale.

Separately, Fund Mubadala, a $16.3 billion investment fund backed by the Abu Dhabi government, is said to have expressed an interest in EMI. The reporters couldn’t reach reps of the fund for comment.