British recording giant EMI has been sold to former-rival Universal Music in a deal worth £1.2Bn (~$1.9).

The deal comes months after banking-giant Citigroup took control of the company after EMI’s former owner, Terra Firma, could not prove that it had the money to finance its debt to the bank.

EMI’s lucrative music publishing unit has also been sold for more than $2Bn in a separate deal to Sony/ATV music publishing.

EMI as we know it today was founded in 1931, and is home to a long list of notable artists, including Coldplay, The Beatles, Katy Perry, and Pink Floyd. Labels under EMI include Capitol, Parlophone, and Virgin Records, alongside preeminent Jazz label Blue Note Records.

When asked about the acquisition, former Rolling Stones singer and Universal recording artist Sir Mick Jagger said “I welcome the fact that EMI will once again be owned by people who really do have music in their blood.”

Universal Music, a division of french media company Vivendi, is best known for their labels Interscope, Def Jam, and Motown Records.

The move is the latest in a series of recent acquisitions in the music industry. In 2004, Sony acquired rival BMG, leaving just four ‘major labels’. After this latest acquisition only three ‘majors’ remain and Universal is left controlling more than 40% of the US recorded music market, according to SoundScan statistics.

Of the acquisition, Universal Music Chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge said: “For me, as an Englishman, EMI was the pre-eminent music company that I grew up with… Its artists and their music provided the soundtrack to my teenage years.”

He went on to say that he is committed to preserving EMI’s “cultural heritage and artistic diversity”, while also planning to invest in its artists and grow the company’s assets for the future.

EMI last changed hands when Private equity firm Terra Firma bought EMI in a deal worth $6.8Bn, just months before the global financial crisis left doubt over whether the firm could meet payments on the $4.2Bn it borrowed form Citigroup to finance the deal.