CELEX: 32022M10422
Language: en
Date: 2022-01-12 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 12/01/2022 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.10422 - WMG / BLACKROCK GROUP / INFLUENCE MEDIA / THE INITIAL FUND) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
                                                               Brussels, 12.1.2022
                                                               C(2022) 297 final
                                                                               PUBLIC VERSION
                                                               Warner Music Group Corp
                                                               1633 Broadway
                                                               NY 10019 New York
                                                               United States of America
                                                               Influence Media Partners
                                                               450 West 14th Street, 6th Floor
                                                               NY 10014 New York
                                                               United States of America -
                                                               BlackRock Financial Management Inc.
                                                               40 East 52nd Street
                                                               NY 10022 New York
                                                               United States of America
Subject:        Case M.10422 – WMG / BLACKROCK GROUP / INFLUENCE MEDIA /
                THE INITIAL FUND
                Commission decision pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation
                (EC) No 139/20041 and Article 57 of the Agreement on the European
                Economic Area2
Dear Sir or Madam,
1.      On 9 December 2021, the European Commission received notification of a proposed
        concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which Warner Music
        Inc. (United States of America), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Warner Music Group
        Corp. (together, “WMG”, United States of America), IMP GP, LLC (“Influence
        Media”, United States of America) and BlackRock Financial Management, Inc.
        (“BFM”, United States of America), acquire within the meaning of Articles 3(1)(b)
        and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of Influence x Music Fund II, L.P.
1       OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1 (the ‘Merger Regulation’). With effect from 1 December 2009, the Treaty on
        the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU’) has introduced certain changes, such as the
        replacement of ‘Community’ by ‘Union’ and ‘common market’ by ‘internal market’. The terminology
        of the TFEU will be used throughout this decision.
2       OJ L 1, 3.1.1994, p. 3 (the ‘EEA Agreement’).
Commission européenne, DG COMP MERGER REGISTRY, 1049 Bruxelles, BELGIQUE
Europese Commissie, DG COMP MERGER REGISTRY, 1049 Brussel, BELGIË
Tel: +32 229-91111. Fax: +32 229-64301. E-mail: COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu.
 ---pagebreak---    (“The Initial Fund”, Cayman Islands), jointly controlled by Influence Media and by
   BFM, by way of the granting of control rights over the Initial Fund.3
2. The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
       for Warner Music Inc.: a global music entertainment company with operations or
        distributors/licensees in almost all EEA Member States. Its activities are in the
        recorded music and music publishing businesses,
       for BFM: a corporation which offers portfolio construction, asset management
        and investment advisory services. BFM controls and manages investment
        decisions of the BLK-Anchor Investors in their capacity as investors in the Initial
        Fund,
       for Influence Media: adviser of investment funds formed to invest capital by third
        parties in the acquisition of music royalty rights, primarily publishing copyrights
        and/or master recordings, and further strategically manages the portfolios of such
        investment funds, seeking to optimize their revenues and the value of such
        portfolios,
       for The Initial Fund: partnership that invests in music assets, specifically
        recording rights and music publishing rights.
3. After examination of the notification, the European Commission has concluded that
   the notified operation falls within the scope of the Merger Regulation and of
   paragraph 5(a) of the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment of
   certain concentrations under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004.4
4. For the reasons set out in the Notice on a simplified procedure, the European
   Commission has decided not to oppose the notified operation and to declare it
   compatible with the internal market and with the EEA Agreement. This decision is
   adopted in application of Article 6(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation and Article 57 of
   the EEA Agreement.
                                                            For the Commission
                                                            (Signed)
                                                            Olivier GUERSENT
                                                            Director-General
3  Publication in the Official Journal of the European Union No C 512, 20.12.2021, p. 5-6.
4  OJ C 366, 14.12.2013, p. 5.
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