Shares in EMI leaped 10 per cent today after the London-listed music group said it had "this morning" received a preliminary takeover approach.

This followed a report that Eric Nicoli, EMI's executive chairman, was in early-stage talks with private equity bidders including Goldman Sachs and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts about a possible bid worth at least £2.5 billion.

The predator is understood not to be connected with either KKR or Goldman Sachs and may have been flushed out by news of their talks.

French conglomerate Vivendi, owner of Universal Music, was seen as a possible contender but remained tight-lipped about whether it was interested.

By 3.25pm the shares had gained 24.25p to 286.5p, on hopes of a bid battle, valuing the group at close to £2.3 billion.

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Mr Nicoli is thought to be more open to the idea of a takeover following a ruling from the European court of First Instance which indicated that regulators should not have approved the merger between the music arms of Sony and Bertelsmann.

This has led Mr Nicoli and other EMI executives to believe that their attempted merger with America's Warner Music would be unlikely to win approval and EMI’s share price has been held back as a result.

The EU is not expected to make a final decision on whether further consolidation will be allowed until next summer.

EMI rejected a 320p a share takeover approach from Warner Music earlier this year at the same time as working on a bid of its own.

The company also lost out in an auction for Bertelsmann’s recorded music business.

All record companies have been hit by the growth of online digital music downloads, which even though not always free, are far less profitable than CDs or DVDs.

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