FACTBOX: Key facts about Terra Firma
(Reuters) - Guy Hands, the private equity owner of EMI, plans to cut up to 2,000 jobs at the ailing British music company, in a plan to rebuild the group which has sparked fury from some of its biggest acts.
The restructuring plan by its new private-equity owners Terra Firma will save up to 200 million pounds ($392 million) a year and recast itself for the digital age.
Here are some key facts about Terra Firma, which ranks as the world's 15th-largest private equity firm:
* Formed in mid-1990S as a Nomura Group's investment firm by Guy Hands, who made his name snapping up struggling companies in some of the biggest leveraged deals of the time.
* Hands later struck it on his own in 2002 as Terra Firma Capital Partners, with Nomura as an investor.
* Since 1994, Terra Firma has invested approximately 11 billion euros ($16.3 billion), mainly in Europe in sectors as varied as waste management and aircraft leasing.
* The firm invested in a handful of bad deals too, including the ill-fated acquisition in 2001 of the Le Meridien hotel chain, whose business slumped badly following the September 11 attacks on the United States.
* Here is a timeline of its major recent buyouts:
May 2004 - Buys British waste management firm Shanks Group Plc (SKS.L) for 227.5 million pounds ($411.6 million).
September 2004 - German state bank WestLB's 43.4 percent stake in one of Britain's largest cinema chains Odeon.
November 2004 - German motorway service company Tank & Rast for 1.1 billion euros ($1.43 billion) from Lufthansa and two co-investors.
April 2005 - Buys British water and gas utility East Surrey Holdings Plc (ESH.L) for 453 million pound ($851 million).
March 2006 - Buys Dublin-based AWAS, which leases aircraft to airlines globally, from Morgan Stanley for $2.5 billion.
May 2007 - Buys aircraft leasing business Pegasus Aviation Finance Co. for $5.2 billion, combining it with its own AWAS unit to create the world's third-largest plane leasing firm.
May 2007 - Buys British music company EMI for 2.4 billion pounds ($4.73 billion) shutting out long-time suitor Warner.
Sources: Reuters; Terra Firma (www.terrafirma.com);
(Writing by Nagesh Narayana; Editing by David Cutler)
