Guy Hands’ new EMI suit
FINANCIER Guy Hands is taking US bank Citigroup to the High Court to find out why it “grabbed the keys” of music publishing group EMI.
Hands, owner of private equity firm Terra Firma, is understood to have applied to the court to be given documents detailing why Citigroup took control of the music company through a pre-pack administration.
The bank, which gave Hands the funding to make his £4.2billion acquisition of EMI in 2007, seized it in February because Terra Firma could no longer make loan repayments. EMI, now up for sale, then appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers as an independent administrator, which subsequently gave control to Citi.
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A person close to the situation said Terra Firma had never breached its loan agreements to Citigroup and had been asking for the documents for the past six months. “They didn’t get it so they are making the request through the courts,” the person said. “A case will be heard this year.” Citigroup did not comment.
Guy Hands has already clashed with the bank in a US court
Hands has already clashed with the bank in a US court, claiming one of its top investment bankers misled him during the takeover. He lost the case.
