Guy Hands must be shitting himself. The boss of private equity company Terra Firma, who paid way too much for EMI in 2007, looks like he’s about to lose the record company to US bank Citigroup after talks with the company’s rivals to license the label’s distribution rights in North America fell over. As a result, Terra Firma has to find £120 million by mid June to pay off a complex debt to Citigroup, which will then be forced to foreclose on the company.
Hands is running around trying to convince investors to pump more money in to the company which is heavily in debt, but no-one in their right mind would want to invest in a debt saddled traditional record label at the moment.
