EMI Group is contacted about bid

EMI Group said Tuesday that it had been approached about a possible bid, and a person familiar with the situation said private equity firm Permira Advisers had made contact with the British music company.

Permira and EMI, which are both based in London, declined to comment.

“EMI announces that it has, this morning, received a preliminary approach for the company which may or may not lead to an offer,” it said in a statement.

EMI’s stock closed up 10.4% in London.

The Financial Times said Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Goldman Sachs were believed to be among the potential bidders for EMI.

A person familiar with the matter said, however, that Kohlberg was not the unnamed suitor referred to in the announcement. EMI declined to name its suitors. Kohlberg declined to comment and Goldman Sachs could not be reached for comment.

Analyst Patrick Yau at London-based Bridgewell Securities Ltd. said a price of 2.5 billion pounds ($4.9 million) looked reasonable. “It’ll probably act as a bit of a magnet now,” Yau said. “If other private equity bidders came out of the woodwork, it could turn into a very interesting bid situation.”

Earlier this year, EMI was locked in a $4.6-billion takeover battle with New York-based Warner Music Group, with each company trying to buy the other.

But hopes of a deal were quashed in June, when a European court annulled approval of the 2004 merger of Sony Corp.’s Sony Music and Bertelsmann’s BMG. The ruling cast doubt on whether an EMI-Warner deal would get regulatory clearance, and the companies abandoned talks until there was more clarity from antitrust regulators.

A Financial Times report in September said Warner’s chief executive, Edgar Bronfman, had since spoken to EMI shareholders Fidelity and Aberdeen Asset Management, emphasizing the benefits of a future tie-up and the possibility of European approval.