March Could Be A Make Or Break Month For EMI

A U.S. judge has promised to rule by the end of March on whether or not to grant a request by Citigroup to move a lawsuit by Terra Firma to London. The investment firm headed by Guy Hands claims that Citi helped unfairly inflated the price paid to acquire EMI.

 "I think the parties deserve to have a quick resolution, but on the other hand this is not an obvious slam dunk decision," U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff reports Reuters. "I guarantee a decision by the end of this month and the full opinion at a later point."

EMI must also make a $160 million payment to Citigroup on its $4.5 billion loan by March 31st as well as pass a solvency test. EMI executives are said to be frantically working on a reorganization plan to pass the test and attract an influx of much needed new cash.  If the music group falls short, Citigorup could take control of the struggling company.