The German music group BMG and American company Concord completed the merger process announced in April on Tuesday, after obtaining approval from all relevant competition authorities. Thomas Rabe, President and CEO of Bertelsmann, stated in a press release that this approval opens the way for one of the largest transactions in the company's history and represents a milestone in the Boost+ strategy, comparing this step to the creation of Penguin Random House and the merger of RTL with Sky Deutschland.
Following the completion of the merger, Bertelsmann will hold a 67% stake in the resulting company, which will be fully consolidated. Concord's owners will retain the remaining 33%, managed by GMP, and will receive a one-time cash payment of $1.16 billion, equivalent to approximately one billion euros.
As part of this process, Bertelsmann is securing approximately €1.1 billion in equity through an agreement with asset manager Apollo, which is acquiring a minority stake in a portion of BMG's rights portfolio. The resulting company will continue to operate under the BMG name.
The resulting company, which will operate under the name BMG, is expected this year to reach pro forma revenues of $2.2 billion, approximately €1.89 billion, and an EBITDA of $730 million, approximately €629 million.
