EMI agrees to $4.7B private-equity buyout

London -- Britain's EMI Group PLC, one of the Big Four record companies, said Monday it agreed to a $4.7 billion takeover by a British private-equity firm.

The buyout by London's Terra Firma Capital Partners, at $5.23 a share, "is the most attractive proposal received and delivers cash now, without regulatory uncertainty and with the minimum of operational risk to the company," EMI Chairman John Gildersleeve said in a statement.

The stock rose 45 cents, or 9.27 percent, to close at $5.34 on the London Stock Exchange.

Terra Firma's offer was announced shortly after Warner Music Group Corp., which has discussed merger possibilities with EMI on and off for seven years, learned it would be granted access to detailed EMI financial information.

EMI rejected Warner's last formal approach -- a $4.1 billion offer -- in March.

Warner declined comment on the Terra Firma buyout.

The buyout announcement also came the same day EMI reported a net loss of $569 million, compared with an $170 million profit in the year-earlier period.

The company said the loss was caused by a $820 million charge related to restructuring costs. It also said its annual sales had declined 15 percent to $3.6 billion.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.