Music publisher Chrysalis being sold
David Bowie is one of Chrysalis’ clientsUK music publisher Chrysalis Group is being sold for £107.4m.
Chrysalis is being bought by German rival Bertelsmann Media Group (BMG) and private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR).
London-based Chrysalis controls the publishing rights to songs by artists including David Bowie and Michael Jackson.
Chrysalis, founded in 1969, used to own a record company of the same name before it was sold to EMI in 1991.
Chris Wright, Chrysalis’ founder, said the deal marked “the end of one era and the start of another” for the firm.
BMG and KKR are buying Chrysalis through a joint venture.
They are paying 160 pence per Chrysalis share, 45.5% higher than the 110p closing price on 29 October, the last trading day before Chrysalis announced that it was in takeover talks.
Chrysalis shares were down 2% to 158.50 pence in Friday trading.
BMG chief executive Martwig Masuch said the deal represented “an important step forward” in his company’s building of a “major, global music rights business”.
Mr Wright added that he was proud of Chrysalis’ “track record”.
Diana's Blog 
Comment? Friendly takeover?
Knowing that companies like Chrysalis are being taken over by others at such a low price is a sad thing to me. The value of the actual music means nothing. Because it used to be the artist that chose who would have their music to sell, and now none of those people are the same. Chrysalis also was the company which allowed Apple to put the Beatles tracks online, to sell. Having one “empire” of all the associations which look after music rights might not be a good thing. They are less likely to be able to find new methods to control piracy. This in the end will mean that music rights will not be looked after, and at one point music might end up being free. Also, the fact that the company Chrysalis went at such a low price is unfortunate for them. It means that artists no longer care about whether their music really is protected, they just want to make sure they can make money off of it. Its all about the profit. Isn’t it?
I guess it was a sort of friendly takeover. It was friendly enough that the company went for a good price and without waiting for anyone else to buy them. But the thing that isn’t considered “friendly” to me, is the fact that Chrysalis will never really be the same, and the artists they work for wont be as special as David Bowie for instance.