Leading international law firm SJ Berwin has advised Universal Music Group (UMG) on its sale of Parlophone Label Group to Warner Music Group for £487 million.

The sale follows the approval of UMG’s £1.2 billion acquisition of EMI Recorded Music by the European Commission in September 2012, on which SJ Berwin also advised UMG.

The Parlophone Label Group is comprised of the Parlophone and Chrysalis labels, as well as EMI recorded music operations in Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia and Sweden.  Parlophone’s artists include Coldplay, David Guetta, Kylie Minogue, Pink Floyd and Tinie Tempah, among many others.

SJ Berwin’s team was led by Corporate partners Will Holder and Mark Sanders, with EU & Competition partners Stephen Kon and Philipp Girardet.  The team also included lawyers from SJ Berwin’s Commercial, Employment, IP, Tax and Litigation teams in London, Paris, Brussels and Frankfurt.  Paris Corporate partner Etienne Boursican led the French team and Frankfurt Corporate partner Michael Cziesla led the German aspects of the deal.

Richard Constant, General Counsel of Universal Music Group International, said: “This was an extremely complex transaction carried out under close regulatory supervision and Will Holder, Mark Sanders, Stephen Kon and Philipp Girardet at SJ Berwin and their teams were instrumental in delivering an extremely good result for us in an very constrained time frame.  Their ability to deliver for their client is, in my view, incomparable.”
 
Will Holder, Corporate partner at SJ Berwin, who led the team, said: "Universal Music Group is the global music leader, and we have a long-standing relationship.  We are delighted to have worked with Universal on the sale of Parlophone, with teams from our London, Paris, Brussels and Frankfurt offices.”

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