German media company Bertelsmann AG said Wednesday it has signed a “definitive agreement” to sell BMG Music Publishing Group to Vivendi SA for $2.09 billion.

Bertelsmann said the transaction has been approved by the boards of both companies and the deal is expected to be completed before the end of the year.

Vivendi, which also owns Universal Music Group, has its video game development headquarters, Vivendi Games, here in Los Angeles.

BMG Music Publishing owns the rights to more than 1 million songs by recording artists such as Mariah Carey, Nelly, Maroon 5, Christina Aguilera, Robbie Williams, Justin Timberlake and Coldplay.

Vivendi beat other bidders including Warner Music Group, EMI and Viacom Inc. mainly because it did not face the same anti-competition issues, analysts said.

The BMG unit is expected to get absorbed into Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, making it the biggest recorded music company in the world by catalog size.