The European Commission has reportedly asked Universal Music Group to sell off a quarter of EMI Music's holdings, if it wants approval of the deal to acquire the smaller label. British paper The Daily Mail's "This Is Money" section reports that the EC regulators told UMG late Friday afternoon that for the EMI deal to be approved, it must sell off the global rights to Parlophone, among others. However, UMG is expected to hold on to the global rights to The Beatles' catalog.

According to the paper, the EC will make a formal announcement on UMG-EMI some time before the end of September. It has been reported previously that September 27 is the last date for a ruling from the European regulators.

Last week, the Financial Times reported that when the finances of the deal shake out, former EMI owner Citibank will be "arguably the biggest winner, as the bank will recover all of the money it lent [Guy] Hands." The FT also noted that that UMG owner Vivendi must hope to avoid losing money on the sale of its various assets from the concessions to the regulators.