Hands on the Stand

HANDS ON THE STAND: Terra Firma’s Guy Hands took the witness stand and testified that he would not have bid for EMI Music if not for the information provided by Citigroup banker David Wormsley that there was a rival offer he had to beat. The trial centers around three telephone conversations between Hands and Wormsley over the weekend of May 19-20, 2007, as a May 21 deadline to bid for EMI approached. Hands claimed that Wormsley told him at the time that private equity firm Cerberus Capital was making a rival bid for the music group, which was not the case. Terra Firma paid 265 pence per share for the music company after being told Cereberus would offer 262. “He told me not to play any games with the price,” said Hands. Wormsley is slated to tell his side of the story later in the trial, but Citigroup lawyers argued that the Terra Firma ruler decided to sue only after losing most of his investment in the ill-timed deal. (10/19p)