TENCENT/UMG DEAL FACES OBSTACLES

Tencent is looking for new funding sources to complete a deal to acquire a portion of Universal Music Group, Reuters has reported. At the same, the Chinese company is looking to increase its stake beyond the 10% that had been agreed upon.

Reuters reports that Tencent has turned to Singapore’s state investor GIC and other sovereign funds after U.S. private equity funds KKR and Hellman & Friedman bailed on the deal last month.

Sources told the news service that Vivendi’s deal to sell a portion of UMG could fall through. But the latest plan has Vivendi selling as much as a 30% stake in UMG to Tencent. The sides still have a long-standing goal of finalizing the deal by year’s end, but government approval may require that the deal will need until January to be sealed.

When Vivendi announced that it was in talks with Tencent in early August, UMG had a value of more than $33b. That valuation eventually scared off investors, sources told Reuters.