Terra Firma Granted Another Extension For Shareholder Ratification
In the continuing saga for its buyout of EMI, which will definitely be a book one day, Terra Firma Capital Partners was furnished with a last minute extension for shareholder approval by the U.K.’s Takeover Panel until 1PM on Wednesday. The reason is because Citigroup has a loophole in its contract with Terra Firma, that if the concern did not acquire 90% of shareholders to sign on, then they would pull their $4.86 Billion of funding. Currently, 86% of shareholders have authorized the buyout offer.
Now here’s where it starts to get good…
A wild rumor has surfaced that China Mobile is really behind Terra Firma’s takeover bid and that they will buy a major stake in the major label after the deal goes down. Citigroup, in the meantime, has gotten wind of China Mobile’s back-end deal, and has refused to waive the 90% shareholder approval requirement, something that is normally done when the percentage is less than 10%.
The yet another last minute extension has made this a real nail biter. However, just when you think the deal is going to go down the toilet, another surprise materializes to keep it moving forward.
