Universal Music Group Acquires Eagle Rock Entertainment

SANTA MONICA, California and LONDON, April 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's leading music company, today announced that it has acquired UK-based Eagle Rock Entertainment, an independent producer and distributor of music programming. The terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.

The acquisition enhances UMG's presence in one of the most dynamic and growing segments of music today: top-quality, original audio-visual content, such as live concert footage, documentaries and films.  The addition of Eagle Rock's library, which includes nearly 2000 hours of programming and more than 800 titles, enhances the value of UMG's catalog by broadening the product offerings associated with UMG's artists. Further, the addition of Eagle Rock's experienced team will assist UMG in producing video content and creating unique artist-based bundles in a variety of physical and digital formats, including on new and emerging mobile platforms.

Eagle Rock Chairman and CEO Terry Shand will continue to lead the company from its headquarters in London.

In making the announcement, Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of UMG, said:  "As we continue UMG's transformation to a music-based content company, expanding our audio-visual catalog and production expertise is critical. We're thrilled to welcome Terry and the Eagle Rock team to the UMG family. Terry has built Eagle Rock into a world-class content company and a leading force in distributing top music-based audio-visual programming."

Terry Shand said: "I am delighted to bring Eagle Rock into the UMG family and look forward to growing Eagle Rock in the coming years by producing more great content and benefiting from the digital revolution that is taking the audio-visual space by storm. I'd like to personally thank Lucian Grainge, Boyd Muir and Max Hole for their vision and confidence, Beringea for their support over the last few years and Geoff Kempin, Simon Hosken and all the team at Eagle Rock for the tremendous work they have done to date and their dedication to the future."

Eagle Rock was advised by Lepe Partners.

ABOUT UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP
Universal Music Group is the global music leader, with wholly owned operations in 60 territories. Its businesses also include Universal Music Publishing Group, one of the industry's premier music publishing operations worldwide.

Universal Music Group's labels include A&M Records, Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note Records, Capitol Christian Music Group, Capitol Records, Capitol Records Nashville, Caroline, Decca, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Grammophon, Disa, Emarcy, EMI Records Nashville, Fonovisa, Geffen Records, Harvest, Interscope Records, Island Records, Machete Music, Manhattan, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Motown Records, Polydor Records, Republic Records, Universal Music Latino, Verve Music Group, Virgin Records, Virgin EMI Records, as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. The Universal Music Group owns the most extensive catalogue of music in the industry, which includes the last 100 years of the world's most popular artists and their recordings. UMG's catalogue is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing (outside the U.S.). Universal Music Group also includes Global Digital Business, its new media and technologies division and Bravado, its merchandising company.

Universal Music Group is a fully owned subsidiary of Vivendi.

ABOUT EAGLE ROCK ENTERTAINMENT
Eagle Rock Entertainment is the largest producer and distributor of music programming for DVD, Blu-Ray, TV and Digital Media in the world. Eagle works directly alongside talent to produce top quality, High Definition and 3D programmes, both concerts and documentaries, including The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, Queen, The Doors, Jeff Beck, U2, Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney and Ozzy Osbourne. Eagle's TV library features nearly 2,000 hours of programming and there are over 800 titles currently available worldwide on DVD, Blu-Ray and digitally.

Eagle Rock, which has worked with a long list of legendary artists, has been recognized with some of the industry's most prestigious honors, including Emmy and Grammy Awards and more than 30 multi-platinum, more than 50 platinum and more than 90 gold sales certifications.

Eagle continues to operate two audio music labels and has recently released both physical and digital albums by Ronnie Wood, Lindsay Buckingham, Gary Moore, Styx and Counting Crows.

Eagle Rock Entertainment has offices in London, New York, Paris and Hamburg.