Sony eyes bid for label EMI
SONY Music could bid for troubled record label EMI after a whirlwind weekend for the firm.
Head of Sony Music Rolf Schmidt-Holz said: “We are in a position that allows us to seize every opportunity in the market – including EMI.”
The speculation comes after Guy Hands appeared to pull off an audacious eleventh-hour deal to save EMI from the clutches of its lender Citigroup.
The struggling record label – owned by his Terra Firma private equity vehicle – looked set to be taken over by the bank after it struggled to keep up payments on its £2.6bn debt pile.
Hands had already gone cap in hand to investors and the cash appeared to have dried up.
However, Hands is now confident he will pass a vote tomorrow ensuring 75 per cent of investors will stump up £105m.
EMI requires around £360m to service its debt until 2015 but Hands is confident he can raise the rest of the cash later in the year.
If the vote passes it will be a personal victory for Hands, who is embroiled in a bitter legal dispute with Citi.
He claims the bank misled him over a rival bidder pulling out of the running before he acquired the firm. Citi denies any wrongdoing.
EMI is now worth just over half of the £4.2bn Hands paid for it in 2007.