UNIVERSAL MUSIC ANNOUNCES SALE OF CERTAIN PUBL. ASSETS TO ABP PER EURO. COMMISSION REQUIREMENTS

21-02-2008 @ 10:06

CP Masters to manage catalogs and co-invest with ABP

Universal Music Group (UMG), the world’s leading music company, today announced the sale of certain music catalogs, including Rondor UK, Zomba UK, 19 Music, 19 Songs and BBC Catalog, to the Dutch fund ABP, the world’s third largest pension fund, and CP Masters BV, one of Europe’s leading independent music publishers, who will actively manage the catalogs. These divestments follow the approval of UMG’s acquisition of BMG Music Publishing by the European Commission, making Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) the world’s leading publishing company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

For this acquisition and for further investments in music publishing, ABP and CPM have created a new publishing company named IMAGEMMUSIC. And as part of this agreement, UMPG has entered into an arrangement with IMAGEMMUSIC to subpublish these catalogs outside of the UK and Continental Europe, while IMAGEMMUSIC will subpublish the Zomba US catalog in the UK and Europe.

“With these divestments, we fulfill the EC mandated conditions of our BMG Music acquisition,” stated David Renzer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of UMPG. “And we’re particularly delighted that these catalogs will continue to flourish under the guidance of one of Europe's leading independent publishers. Outside of Europe, we look forward to continuing our work with the songwriters associated with these catalogs, and providing all our songwriters, composers, artists and business partners with the very best in creative management, administrative support and business savvy.”

“ABP is actively pursuing innovative investments,” commented Ronald Wuijster, head of Strategy and Research of ABP Investments. “The idea to enter into this type of investment was generated by our own organization and it is the first time ever that a fund has invested in music catalogs. Music publishing continues to be a robust and exciting business and we are delighted to be working with CP Masters. We will certainly look to continue expanding our investment in this very important area of the global music business, both in terms of acquisitions and infrastructure.”
“As a person who has been actively involved in the music publishing business for over three decades, I fully understand the quality of the songs involved here, and the great songwriters whom we will now have the chance to work with,” commented André de Raaff, Chief Executive Officer of CP Masters. “My team and I couldn't be more excited about the opportunity to expose a whole new generation of fans to the wonderful music contained in these catalogs, while we continue breaking new songwriters and artists.”

About Universal Music Group
In addition to being the leading global music publisher, Universal Music Group is the world's largest music company with wholly owned record operations or licensees in 77 countries. Its record labels include Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Island Def Jam Music Group, Lost Highway Records, Machete Music, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Philips, Polydor Records, Universal Music Latino, Universal Motown Republic Group, Universal South Records and Verve Music Group, as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. The Universal Music Group owns the most extensive catalog of music in the industry, which is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing (outside the U.S.). Universal Music Group also includes eLabs, a new media and technologies division, Bravado, its merchandising company, and Twenty-First Artists, its full service management division.
Universal Music Group is a unit of Vivendi, a global media and communications company.

About ABP
ABP is the world’s third largest pension fund with EUR 217 billion under management.ABP is the pension fund for employers and employees in the service of the Dutch government and the educational sector with approximately 2.7 million participants.

About CP Masters
CP Masters is one of Europe’s new leading independent music companies and is owned by André de Raaff, Denis Wigman and Bob van Hellenberg Hubar. André de Raaff has over thirty years’ experience working in and running music publishing companies. He is board member of the Dutch performing rights society BUMA and chairman of the Dutch Music Publishing Association (NMUV). Bob Hubar, previously an entertainment industry lawyer and later film-producer, together with Denis Wigman (CP Masters’ CFO) founded the Dutch TV company CTM in 2000 with André de Raaff. CTM was restructured in 2004 into an entertainment company active in several sectors such as; film, TV, records and music publishing. CP Masters is the music publishing business of CTM.