trial post-mortem

TAKE OF THE DAY: “It’s EMI that appears the real loser here. It has a shareholder, in Terra Firma, that has suffered legal humiliation at the hands of its creditor, Citi. The verdict weakens Terra Firma's negotiating position when it comes to trying to refinance the heavily indebted music company—something that it still needs to do desperately. Not good. But maybe this will prove a cathartic moment and persuade Terra Firma to cut its losses and hand EMI over to Citi, which might then sensibly go about restructuring its balance sheet with a view to finding new owners. But the court case certainly means that the days of EMI remaining an independent company have been reduced dramatically.” —Damian Reece of Telegraph.co.uk, assessing the damage. (11/5a)