Hands Full At EMI

Guy Hands has never been a low-profile businessman but it’s doubtful he’s ever experienced the full glow of publicity he’s had since his Terra Firm investment group bought EMI.

It’s reportedly trying to raise cash by selling a 15 percent stake in the music company, according to The Times.

Citigroup has failed to syndicate any of the £2.5 billion it lent the investment group to buy EMI, according to Daily Telegraph.

The Observer says Radiohead won’t re-sign to the label because the new bosses don’t understand music. The Independent and others are reporting that Hands is clamping down on profligate waste, an example being when EMI once spent £20,000 on candles to decorate a Los Angeles apartment used to entertain artists.

A Mayfair hideaway reserved for the company’s top brass has been put on the market for £5.6 million. Also gone is the £200,000 per annum allegedly spent on fruit and flowers for the company’s London offices, which are now full of Terra Firma’s team of 30 accountants.

Sources reportedly close to the top of EMI have told the Observer this is just the tip of the iceberg, comparing some of the worst excesses to "the last days of the Roman Empire."

On one occasion, according to the nameless sources, one male artist (also not named) repeatedly rejected offers to throw a party in California to celebrate the release of a new album. The lavish affair, which is rumoured to have cost $250,000, went ahead anyway, even though the star in question refused to attend.

Meanwhile, other stories on the weekend’s business pages say Terra Firma is eager to offload all the problems by selling EMI to Google or News Corp.

"If venture capitalists start trying their hands at A&R, they will lose their money," wrote a columnist in The Times in one of many pieces saying Hands needs to find a new company chief sooner than later.

Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien told the Observer the band was keen to stay with EMI but said it’s in "a state of flux" and "Terra Firma doesn’t understand the music industry."

One of the first bold moves Hands is expected to make is slashing the millions paid to industry bodies in the U.K and U.S.

According to Financial Times, Hands has written to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) threatening to cut EMI’s estimated US$25 million annual funding commitment by half.

Earlier this year Terra Firma paid £2.4 billion and took on £800 million worth of EMI debt to buy the company and take it private.