Hands bids for Chrysalis

Guy Hands, head of Terra Firma, which bought music group EMI last year for £3.2bn (US$6.4bn) has signalled his serious intent to consolidate the sector by bidding for Chrysalis.

The latter company sold its radio interests at the end of last year, leaving it with a music publishing catalogue. EMI also has a similar business, which is less volatile than the artist management side of the group.

This week Hands has set out plans to reduce dramatically costs in EMI’s mainstream business. This has inflamed some of the group’s famous bands such as the Rolling Stones and Coldplay.

On Monday, Chrysalis said when issuing a trading update that it was still in takeover talks as part of a strategic review started in December. This morning Chrysalis shares rose 5p to 104p, valuing the company at around £70m.