Warner Music Group announced at the weekend that it has scrapped plans to make a binding offer to buy French music label Believe. The label did not elaborate on its decision, only that it was made “after careful consideration.”
Believe followed up in a statement, saying it “will review the situation with all interested parties (including the joint venture) to determine the next steps in relation to the potential evolution of control of the company.”
The change comes less than two weeks after Believe's board gave WMG the go-ahead – and access to financial data – to make a formal bid for the company, which owns digital distributor TuneCore, publishing management service Sentric and a stable label, such as Naïve, Nuclear Blast and Groove Attack.
WMG earlier said it approached Believe in February with a non-binding offer to combine the two companies for “at least” 17 euros ($18.60) per share. Believe then gave WMG until Sunday 7 April to “submit a binding, unconditional and fully funded offer”. Warner withdrew a day before the deadline.
Warner argued in March that its offer was more attractive than a competing takeover offer from Believe founder and chief executive Denis Ladegaillerie and a consortium of shareholders, which had offered 15 euros per share and was supported by the board of directors.
Upon learning of WMG's interest in Believe, the consortium sought to speed up the acquisition process by waiving the condition that the board's ad hoc committee receive an independent expert report on the financial fairness of its offer. A review by the French financial regulator, Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), said the group could not waive this condition.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/business/business-news/warner-music-plan-believe-dropped-1235651246/
