Vivendi’s Universal Music has received U.S. antitrust approval to acquire Bertelsmann AG’s BMG Music Publishing, U.S. officials said on Tuesday (Nov. 14). Antitrust authorities completed their review of the deal valued at 1.63 billion euros ($2.09 billion) without taking any action to block it, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said in a notice.
In September, French-based Vivendi topped offers from six other bidders for BMG Music Publishing, which owns the rights to songs by artists ranging from Coldplay to Barry Manilow.
The companies are now the No. 3 and 4 players in music publishing and say the deal would give them a combined market share of 22%, slightly ahead of current market leader, EMI Group.
