EMI has appointed Peter Williams to the board of one of its holding companies, as its buyout house Terra Firma tries to sort out the loss-making record label’s finances, the Daily Telegraph reported on Friday (Feb. 26).
Williams, a former boss of department store Selfridges, has joined the board of Maltby Investments Limited to act as an intermediary between the private-equity firm and Citigroup, which helped finance the acquisition of EMI, the paper said.
No one at EMI, home to artists like Beyonce, Robbie Williams and Amy Winehouse, could immediately be reached for comment.
Private-equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd bought the London-based record label for £4 billion ($6.1 billion) in 2007, but EMI’s high debt and poor performance have become a burden.
Earlier this month the group warned of a “likely significant” shortfall when the covenants on its £2.6 billion ($4 billion) debt are tested at the end of March 2010.
The private equity firm recently launched a lawsuit against Citigroup, claiming the U.S. bank had inflated the price of EMI during the sale process by failing to reveal that another bidder had withdrawn. Citigroup denies the allegation.
