NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Trade Commission says it has cleared a deal by Sony and other investors to buy part of the British music company EMI Group Ltd.

Sony/ATV, a joint venture between Sony Corp. and the Michael Jackson estate, and several investment funds including United Arab Emirates-based Mubadala Development Co. offered $2.2 billion in November for EMI Music's publishing businesses.

The deal was cleared by EU regulators in April, with some conditions.

EMI's publishing arm manages the rights to songs of popular artists such as Amy Winehouse, Regina Spektor and Rihanna.

Universal Music Group has a pending deal to buy the rest of EMI, which was put up for sale by Citigroup last summer. The bank had foreclosed on private-equity firm Terra Firma, which bought the music company in 2007.