By Greg Hazley
Brunswick is supporting communications for Citigroup’s takeover and restructuring of music giant EMI Group, which handles music for artists from Pink Floyd to Coldplay.
Citi took the reins of the U.K.-based company on Feb. 2 from private equity firm Terra Firma and wrote off $3.5 billion, or 65 percent, of its loan to TF. That left EMI with $1.9 billion in debt after a disastrous four-year run under TF, which bought the music company with a large loan from Citi in what the Wall Street Journal has called "one of the most disastrous leveraged buyouts of last decade’s deal doom."
Brunswick’s London and U.S. offices are handling media relations for the EMI-Citi deal.
Finsbury handles PR for Terra Firma, which told media the PE firm is "pleased that EMI's debt burden has been reduced through Citi agreeing to write down a substantial proportion of EMI's debt."
EMI CEO Roger Faxon said in a statement: "With [a new] solid footing, we are confident in our ability to drive our business forward. We have already made great progress in meeting the challenges facing our industry."
EMI is the smallest of the music industry’s "Big Four," also made up of Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group.
|