I am getting tired of the EMI drama, and hopefully this will come to an end, in like a year: EMI has accepted a buyout bid offer of about $4.7 billion from British private-equity house Terra Firma, with the bid coming on the same day the recorded music group reported a $568 million annual loss. Also, Warner is still keen and willing to pay a $197 million premium to keep it out of PE hands, according to Reuters, raising its total bid to $4.33 billion (we reported on this earlier today). EMI said it is recommending the offer valued at 265 pence a share…John Gildersleeve, chairman of EMI, said the company received “several” proposals, but that the Terra Firma offer delivers cash now without regulatory uncertainty. The deal gives EMI an enterprise value of $6.3 billion and includes a break fee of $47 million if EMI pulls out of the agreement.

Meanwhile, the music group also reported its yearly results today, and had a $568 million loss (compared with a profit of $170 million a year ago) and a 13 percent revenue drop as music downloads failed to make up for piracy and falling CD sales. Sales fell to $3.6 billion from $4.1 billion the previous year. Group’s digital revenue increased by 46.5 percent from $220 million to $323.4 million on a reported basis representing 9.4 percent of total revenues. In EMI North America, digital sales grew strongly by 80.1%, which was driven, in particular, by the mobile market. In UK, digital revenue grew by 31 percent over the prior year with fixed line downloads increasing by 16 percent, mobile downloads increasing by 41 percent and subscription by 38percent over the period. More details in release.

FT: Warner, which is now offering 260p, could yet win. To get approval, Warner would also have to sell either its own or EMI’s more stable music publishing business, although that should fetch a great price from private equity in today’s booming credit markets. Warner could simply wait and hope to buy recorded music off Terra Firma. But its business is also suffering and could seriously do with the synergies from a merger.