Cleary enters arena to advise Citigroup on Terra Firma's EMI bid

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has secured work on Terra Firma's high-profile bid for music giant EMI.

Cleary is advising Citigroup, which is providing the financing on the £3.2bn takeover of EMI, which has also been the target of Warner Brothers.

The Cleary team, led by finance partner Andrew Shutter, is waiting to hear if Warner will react with a counter bid.

Shutter said: "There's the possibility of a counter bid, but we can't say at the moment what will happen."

Citigroup is a regular client of Cleary but the bank also turns to Ashurst and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer for acquisition finance advice. Freshfields, led by relationship partner Mark Rawlinson, is advising EMI.

Cleary also advised the bank as part of a consortium led by Cerberus Capital Management on the $14bn (£7.06bn) acquisition of General Motors Acceptance Corporation from General Motors in 2006.

Last month (21 May) The Lawyer reported on Weil Gotshal & Manges' win on the transaction, advising Terra Firma. The firm's team is being led by corporate partners Marco Compagnoni and Ian Hamilton.

Compagnoni commented: "It's a great deal to be advising on and it's clearly a challenging transaction. It's extremely high profile."