US bank Citigroup took control of troubled music company EMI from private equity owner Guy Hands on Tuesday, bringing an end to a long ownership battle and teeing up the firm behind Coldplay and The Beatles for its next possible sale. Hands, one of the most high-profile private equity bosses in Europe, bought EMI, also home to Kylie Minogue and Tinie Tempah, at the height of the buyouts boom in 2007 for 4 billion pounds ($6.4 billion), with Citigroup underwriting all the debt.
From the start he rubbed members of the industry up the wrong way, sacking thousands and telling artists they needed to work harder. More seriously, he then fell out with his financial backers as he battled to keep the music group within the ever-tightening terms of its debt. As relations deteriorated, he then sued Citigroup, claiming he had been duped into bidding so much in the first place. He lost and has appealed.
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