EMI facing a £1bn fight for Warner

RIVAL bidders are aiming to trump EMI's £1bn attempt to buy US company Warner Music. They are thought to include several venture capital groups.

It is also possible that Edgar Bronfman, former owner of Universal Music, is ready to pounce.

EMI chairman Eric Nicoli flew to New York last week to talk about his firm's bid for Warner with Dick Parsons, his opposite number at Warner's parent company, AOL Time Warner.

EMI, with stars including Robbie Williams and soprano Lesley Garrett, said last month that it was talking to the company about a possible deal over Warner, which has Madonna and REM on its books.

It is believed to have offered AOL £650m in cash plus a 25% stake in the merged company worth a further £430m.

The British company made its offer after Warner's attempt to merge with German music firm BMG lapsed.

The private equity groups now circling Warner Music would not face any regulatory issues, while a deal with EMI or any other major music group would be delayed by the competition authorities.

But EMI has the considerable advantage of being able to offer AOL a share of what would become the second-biggest music group in the world behind France's Universal. Merging their operations could result in savings of about £190m a year for Warner EMI.

Meanwhile, reports from New York suggest that Bronfman, the heir to the Seagram drinks and media business who sold his Universal entertainment group to French firm Vivendi, may also be interested in Warner. He should have little difficulty finding the money.

Bronfman recently raised £7.5bn for a failed attempt to buy back the entertainment assets he had originally sold to Vivendi.

The French group is still recovering from near-collapse under the stewardship of the now disgraced chief executive Jean-Marie Messier.