UMG hiring banks for divestments

YOU CAN TAKE IT TO THE BANK: It’s been eerily quiet on the merger front since Faxon’s memo barrage last Friday, but the N.Y. Post’s Claire Atkinson has come up with a tidbit to hold us over until the next revelation. UMG is in talks to hire Allen & Co. and Goldman Sachs as bankers to help it shop $245 million worth of European assets, she reports, which are likely to be sold piecemeal rather than as a single group. Universal is prepared to sell European rights to artists such as Coldplay, Kylie Minogue and Pink Floyd, which are represented by EMI-backed labels Parlophone, Mute, Chrysalis and EMI Classics. The potential buyers include private-equity firms and indie labels such as Big Machine and Glassnote, sources said. (7/31a)