By Kevin McCauley
Sitrick and Co and Brunswick Group are handling the $3.3B all-cash deal for Warner Music launched by Access Industries, the company of Russia-born billionaire tycoon Len Blavatnik.
The industrialist moved up to the No. 79 slot on the Forbes 2011 list of billionaires with a worth of $10.1B. He ranked No. 93 last year with a fortune of $7.5B.
Blavatnik, 52, praised Warner Music, which is run by Edgar Bronfman, Jr., as a great company with a strong heritage and home to many exceptional artists." Those artists include Death Cab by Cutie, R.E.M. and Bruno Mars.
Blavatnik, a former director of Warner Music, lost in the bidding for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer last year.
Earlier, he bought international distribution rights to Mel Gibson's Icon Group for movies including "Dances with Wolves," "The Passion of the Christ," "Apocalypto," and "Driving Miss Daisy."
Warner today reported that fiscal first-half net loss grew from $42M to $56M on revenues of $1.5B. Bronfman is buoyed as digital income grew 18 percent from the first quarter and approached the 50 percent of overall revenue mark in the U.S.
The Warner acquisition puts Blavatnik in the running to acquire Britain's EMI Group when Citigroup is expected to hold an auction for that music company later this year. A Warner/EMI combo would challenge Universal Music Group and Sony for the top spot.
Crisis counselor Michael Sitrick is PR rep for Blavatnik, who made his money in chemicals and oil and gas and has extensive real estate holdings in Manhattan.
Brunswick's New York staffers Stan Neve and Christina Stenson plus James Olley in London are media contacts for the Access/Warner deal.
|