EMI withdraws offer for Time Warner's record division

Music group EMI today said it had pulled out of the race for Time Warner’s recorded music division.

London-based EMI said it had been unable to agree a deal with the US company that would be acceptable to both parties and in the interests of EMI’s shareholders.

EMI is believed to have offered up to £1bn (€1.4bn) for the recorded music business of Warner Music Group.

But it is understood to have been trumped by a rival £1.6bn (€2.2bn) bid from an investment consortium led by entertainment entrepreneur and former Seagram chief executive Edgar Bronfman Junior.

As news emerged of the rival offer last week, EMI called its bid ”a full and fair offer with the interests of our shareholders uppermost in our minds”.