Business & Finance
Media giant Time Warner announced a $2.6 billion agreement to sell its recorded-music business to a consortium led by media mogul Edgar Bronfman Jr. and equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners. Word of the deal emerged after EMI Group, the world's third-largest music company, dropped out of the bidding. Another consortium led by Bronfman was an unsuccessful bidder early this fall for the US entertainment assets of French media conglomerate Vivendi Universal.
Leveraged buyout specialist Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is near a $2.85 billion acquisition of UniSource Energy Corp., The Wall Street Journal reported, with a formal announcement expected in a matter of days. UniSource, based in Tucson, Ariz., is the parent of Tucson Electric Power and serves more than 550,000 customers in the state.
Auto parts supplier ArvinMeritor Inc. conceded defeat in its five-month effort to take over larger rival Dana Corp. The latter's board Sunday rejected the "final" $2.7 billion offer, calling it "neither attractive nor compelling." The hostile takeover campaign began in July with a $2.2 billion offer that, if accepted, would have created the industry's third-largest company. ArvinMeritor of Troy, Mich., and its former target, in Toledo, Ohio, are 75 miles apart.
Fifty-one buildings, almost all of them housing branch bank offices, were sold by financial-services giant Deutsche Bank as part of a strategy to refocus on its core business. Reports put the purchase price paid by the Blackstone Group, an American private equity partnership, at $1.2 billion. The buildings, in nine European countries, will be leased back to Deutsche Bank, the reports said.
Delta Air Lines said chief executive Leo Mullin will retire Jan. 1. It appointed longtime board member Gerald Grinstein as his replacement. Mullin also will step down as chairman after the annual shareholders' meeting in April, the company said. The announcements come amid controversy over high executive pay at the world's third-largest carrier, as it pursues layoffs as well as salary concessions by its pilots.
