Given the tumultuous recent history of EMI, members of its pension fund could count themselves fortunate that the fund will live on. As Music Week reports, the 20,000-member pension fund of the former EMI Group, worth £1.5 billion (roughly $2.2 billion), has been sold to the London-based Pension Insurance Corporation. The fund was held by Citigroup since EMI’s sale to Universal Music Group (recording division) and Sony/ATV (publishing division) in 2011 until five months ago, when Citigroup began the sale process. It is the largest pension buyout in U.K. history.
As Clive Gilchrist, chair of the trustee company, said in a statement: “I have written to the Fund members telling them that their benefits have been secured in full with PIC; as a trustee, fully securing benefits is the ultimate goal. An enormous amount of time and effort has been put into this by all concerned. The outcome demonstrates how worthwhile it has been.”
Two months ago a judge ruled that the trial between Terra Firma and Citigroup, which saw the former accusing the latter of misleading it towards its (ill-fated) purchase of EMI Group back in 2007, would have to return to trial following improper instructions given to the jury.
Terra Firma CEO Guy Hands broke his silence on the deal back in March, saying the company had learned some “very expensive lessons.”