Guy Hands Testifies He Was 'Tricked' Into Buying EMI

Guy Hands

TERRA FIRMA CAPITAL PARTNERS CEO GUY HANDS testified in U.S. District Court in MANHATTAN YESTERDAY (10/19) that his firm would not have bid on EMI if he'd known there were no other bidders.

At day two of the trial between HANDS and CITIGROUP (NET NEWS 10/18), HANDS claimed that CITIGROUP's DAVID WORMSLEY "tricked him into overpaying for EMI, a 113-year-old music company, in a 2007 auction," reports THE IRISH INDEPENDENT. "HANDS claims Mr. WORMSLEY lied to him in a series of phone conversations over the days leading up to the MAY 21st, 2007 auction for EMI, falsely telling him that CERBERUS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT planned to submit a competing bid."

"If he hadn't made those statements, we wouldn't have been bidding that day at all," HANDS told jurors.

CITIGROUP provided $4.71 billion in loans to finance the $6.7 billion acquisition.

The report added that HANDS testified that several rival bidders dropped out in the days before the deadline for bids, including FORTRESS INVESTMENT, WARNER MUSIC GROUP and JPMORGAN CHASE's ONE EQUITY PARTNERS. HANDS said "that on the final weekend before the auction, Mr. WORMSLEY, whom he described as his friend and business associate, told him that CERBERUS remained in the auction and was bidding £2.62 per share."

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