In August of last year, Guy Hands and Terra Firma completed a $4.7 billion acquisition of EMI Group Limited. When the deal was structured, Citigroup backed Terra Firma with a loan for two-thirds of the deal. Since brokering this deal, much has changed, and none of the changes are positive ones.
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In August of last year, Guy Hands and Terra Firma completed a $4.7 billion acquisition of EMI Group Limited. When the deal was structured, Citigroup backed Terra Firma with a loan for two-thirds of the deal. Since brokering this deal, much has changed, and none of the changes are positive ones. The U.S. Government has underwritten Citigroup, over 1,500 people have lost their jobs at EMI, the record company has posted losses of over $600 million, and Terra Firma has had to inject cash into EMI in order to meet the terms of their loan. Now, according to the U.K. newspaper, The Times, two Terra Firma senior executives who were involved in the EMI deal have now left the company.
According to reports, Chris Rolling, named the chief operating office and chief financial officer of EMI after the buyout, left both EMI and Terra Firma in September. In addition, chief operating officer for the U.K. and North America at EMI, Ashley Unwin left the company recently. The source of the news said that neither EMI nor Terra Firma plan to refill either position.
In July, Elio Leoni-Sceti was named chief executive of EMI’s music division and has since restructured the division into new music, catalog and music services. Although EMI has declined to comment on the recent high-level departures, speculators expect that the new CEO will most likely choose his own team of executives.
