BLK BlackRock Inc

DEUTSCHE BANK

Asset-Management Chief Steps Down

Deutsche Bank AG's asset management chief, Quintin Price, will depart the lender effective June 15, after being on medical leave for two months.

Mr. Price, 54 years old, submitted his resignation to the bank's supervisory board this week, and it was accepted on Wednesday, according to a statement from the bank. Mr. Price declined to comment through a Deutsche Bank spokesman.

In mid-April, the former senior BlackRock Inc. executive went on medical leave for unspecified health reasons. He joined the German bank as part of an overhaul announced last year by Chief Executive Officer John Cryan. Mr. Price served on the bank's management board, starting in January.

--Jenny Strasburg

LITIGATION

Citigroup Is Focus in EMI-Related Suit

Guy Hands, the multimillionaire founder of U.K. private-equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd., said in a London court Wednesday that his 2007 takeover of U.K. music company EMI Group was a disaster in which he lost about EUR200 million ($230 million) of his personal wealth.

Mr. Hands is claiming at least GBP1.5 billion ($2.2 billion) in damages from Citigroup Inc. over Terra Firma's 2007 takeover of EMI. Terra Firma lost its entire GBP1.75 billion investment in EMI when it was taken over by lender Citigroup in 2011 following financial difficulties.

Mr. Hands said in London's High Court that he was "lied" to by senior Citi bankers while bidding for the company and about EMI's overall health.

Terra Firma's main claim is that Citi banker David Wormsley misled Mr. Hands in May 2007, telling him that private-equity firm Cerberus was bidding for the company and that Mr. Hands would need to put in a higher bid if he wanted to win the auction for the company, according to court documents. Cerberus did not put in a bid for EMI. Citi denies that Mr. Wormsley made these claims.

Terra Firma also alleges in court documents that former senior Citi bankers Chad Leat and Michael Klein had a negative view of the company while reassuring Mr. Hands of the health of the company. One junior Citi employee wrote that EMI was a "terminally ill cancer patient on chemotherapy" and another banker sent a post-deal email saying "At long last you sold the pig." Citi denies that Mr. Leat and Mr. Klein made any dishonest claims or misled Mr. Hands.

"Citi lied to me", said Mr. Hands. "The reality is that I made that investment trusting core individuals. I think most investors out there, in hindsight they will find that I should not have trusted those individuals but I did and it is the truth."

Citi denies all of Mr. Hands' allegations. Citi's lawyer Mark Howard QC said in court on Wednesday that Mr. Hands is attempting to "shake down" the bank through the litigation.

A Citigroup spokesman called the claim without merit. "Citi did not make any dishonest statements to Guy Hands or Terra Firma throughout the auction process for EMI and is confident the U.K. trial will confirm this," the spokesman added.

Terra Firma declined to comment.

Mr. Hands lost a legal claim against Citi in New York in 2010 over the EMI takeover, but won the right to have a retrial in 2013 on the grounds that the judge in the original case had given incorrect instructions to the jury. Both sides then agreed to hear the case in London with the six-week trial beginning on June 7.

Mr. Hands admitted in court that the EMI deal was disastrous for his firm and that the ongoing litigation had damaged his reputation with investors. Terra Firma has not raised a new buyout fund since 2007.

He said: "Lots of major firms made investments that went wrong. What they did was they buried them and moved on. What has caused our particular problem is that we have not moved on, and we have not moved on for good reasons."

He also admitted that it was standard market practice for information on bids to leak during auction processes -- contrary to the confidentiality agreements all parties sign.

"One simply hopes that you have better information than the others and more reliable sources," he said.

--Becky Pritchard

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 09, 2016 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024