The European Union is expected to vote to approve the takeover of EMI Music by the Universal Music Group. The $1.9 billion deal has been signed off on by various agencies, clearing the way for the EU to greenlight the deal, possibly as early as next week.
The deal will keep the merged company resolutely European: EMI is a British company, and UMG is based in France.
However, in order to get the deal through, UMG had to make major concessions, taking on what could be crippling debt and skyrocketing legal fees. According to a report in the Financial Times. “Citigroup is arguably the biggest winner, as the bank will recover all of the money it lent [EMI’s previous owner].”