China Mobile denied media reports suggesting its involvement in European private equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners' $4.86 billion bid for British music company EMI Group. "We haven't heard of any such deal," a spokeswoman for the Chinese mobile operator told AFX News Limited. "[Parent company] CMCC, as far as we know, hasn't been involved in such a deal either."
Terra Firma Capital Partners extended the offer period to Wednesday for its EMI bid; the firm had established Sunday as the deadline for receiving shareholder acceptances at a minimum of 90 percent of the music giant's existing issued ordinary-share capital, but as of Friday, the private equity firm had received valid acceptances totaling 688,961,516 shares, or 84.94 percent. If Terra Firma fails to receive enough acceptances to declare an unconditional offer by Wednesday, the bid will lapse unless the U.K. Takeover Panel grants another extension.
For more on the EMI takeover:
- read this AFX News Limited article