Major Labels

Guy Hands Has Just 10 Days To Save EMI

He’s Now Trying To Raise Just Enough $’s To Save Label

(Updated) Guy Hands has just 10 days left to convince investors to add fresh funds to save EMI from the hands of the bankers at Citi. Because of the looming deadline, the Terra Firma boss has reportedly slashed his fundraising goal to just the £105 million needed to make one overdue loan payment and stop foreclosure for the next 10 to 12 months. Hands had originally been asking investors for £360 million.

A few of the firm’s largest investors have apparently given verbal commitments, but Hands still needs to secure the support of 75% of his fund’s 200 investors before the May 14th deadline.  It may not be an easy decision for investors. On the one hand cost cuts have lowered overhead without apparently hampering the label group’s ability to deliver hits. At the same time, however, the turmoil has led key artists like Paul McCartney to move their profitable catalogs and others to reexamine the risk of doing business with EMI at all.

Bruce Houghton on 05/04/2010 in Major Labels | Permalink | Comments (5)
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  1. really gotta ask yourself is EMI worth saving? I thinks it got to the stage years and years ago, that if it were a dog, you’d take it out back and shoot it!

  2. I think EMI is worth saving on several levels. Their operating profits have never been higher, they are still cranking out hits with their current artists, and their new signings (Sky, Lolene, Josiah Bell) have a lot of potential. Any label would be considered a big success with EMI’s operating profits and artist roster, but the thing that holds them down is the debt it has to meet as a result of this Terra Firma deal. It would be a better vet for the investors, in my opinion, to cough up the cash to get through the year, to see how the lawsuit between terra firma and citi plays out. If it plays to Terra Firma’s benefit, then this could set EMI up for success in the short and long term.
    But… what do I know…

  3. and, the McCartney catalog, as high profile a defection as that was, only generated about $100k last year, so as press-worthy as it sounds, it doesn’t really impact the bottom line in the grand scheme of things

  4. Beside’s McCartney is way over-rated anyway. EMI should say “good riddance” and look straight ahead.

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