The gloves are off in the civil trial in a New York court as EMI’s owner Terra Firma and its greedy owner Guys Hands duke it out against financiers CitiGroup, with the basket case record label arguing that it was ‘tricked’ in to paying too much.
Somewhat reminiscent of Kerry Packer’s comment that ‘you only ever get one Alan Bond in your life’; when he bought Channel 9 back off the disgraced 1980s entrepreneur for a fraction of what he had sold it to him for; Hands says that his former best mate, CitiBank executive David Wormsley, misled him about rival bids for EMI.
As it happens, there were no other bids and Hands claims he was pressured into paying too much. Wormsley denies he misled Hands and Terra Firma, testifying in court it was as a result of his actions. “Principally, my general demeanour toward him. I would always be as truthful and honest as I could be.”
Hands is struggling to be a convincing witness, admitting that he didn’t keep any sort of record of the conversations in which he alleges he was misled about rival bids, let alone get anything in writing. There’s a lot at stake in this lawyer’s picnic. If Citigroup loses they’ll be forced to refund billions to Terra Firma and take a serious battering to their reputation in business circles.
If Terra Firma lose, CitiBank will probably repossess EMI, break it up and sell it off to pay off its crippling debt. In the meantime, the music biz around the world is sitting back with popcorn and watching with glee.
