Struggling British music group Sanctuary has agreed to a takeover from Universal Music worth about £44.5m.
Sanctuary is one of the world's top music owners with a catalogue of more than 150,000 tracks, including artists such as Morrissey, The Strokes and Alison Moyet. It also manages Elton John, James Blunt and Slipknot.
Universal Music is owned by French media group Vivendi. News of the bid came as Sanctuary posted an interim pre-tax loss of £6.7m in the six months to March 31, down from £27.1m in the same period a year earlier.
But sales of recorded music fell to £16.4m, down from £25.3m previously.
Sanctuary, which is Britain's largest independent record company, hit financial problems two years ago, hampered by an expensive US acquisition and delayed album releases.
