CC, Dewey, Freshfields steer Citibank’s acquisition of EMI
Clifford Chance, Dewey & LeBoeuf and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have all taken high-profile roles on the sale of troubled music group EMI to Citibank.
The group, owned by private equity house Terra Firma, has been sold as part of a prepack administration to the bank. Citibank now owns the entire £2.2bn share capital of EMI’s holding company Maltby Acquisitions. The company’s debt was reduced from £3.4bn to £1.2bn, with a further £1bn worth of shareholder debt written off.
The sale is thought to be one of the most valuable prepack administrations ever.
Clifford Chance and Dewey acted for Citibank on the debt restructuring negotiations as lender and security agent respectively. Restructuring and insolvency partner Adrian Cohen and corporate partner Daniel Kossoff led for Clifford Chance, while the Dewey team was fronted by bank and institutional finance group co-head Bruce Johnston.
Johnston said: “This is a major chapter in the course of EMI’s story and we’ll work with Citibank on the best solution to the business’s future and their assets in the group.”
Freshfields advised Maltby Acquisitions and EMI Group throughout the process, which also saw parent company Maltby Investments enter administration.
Restructuring partner Richard Tett led the deal for the magic circle firm. The team also featured tax partner Sarah Falk, corporate partner Martin Nelson-Jones and finance partner Martin Hutchins.
Hogan Lovells acted for administrators Peter Spratt and Tony Lomas of PricewaterhouseCoopers. The Hogan Lovells team was led by partners Alexander Wood and Deborah Gregory out of its London restructuring group.
SNR Denton head of restructuring Mark Andrews and restructuring and insolvency partner Neil Griffiths acted for the directors of Maltby Acquisitions.
