Access Industries wins Warner Music takeover bid

BILLIONAIRE Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries has won the auction to take control of Warner Music Group Corp with an offer of $8.25 a share, the company said yesterday.

The agreement values the world’s third largest music company’s combined equity and debt at around $3.3 billion (€2.23bn). The all-cash deal is expected to close in the third quarter.

Warner Music, whose artists include Bruno Mars, Green Day and Led Zeppelin, will become an autonomous unit of Access, alongside industrial assets in natural resources and chemicals as well as media and telecommunications.