Guy Hands has withdrawn his case against Citigroup (C.N) over the 2007 buyout of music label EMI, his private equity firm Terra Firma said on Friday, bringing an end to almost seven years of on-off litigation over the disastrous deal.
"Terra Firma confirms it unreservedly withdraws its allegations of fraud," a lawyer for the firm told a London court.
Hands, the founder of Terra Firma, had been seeking damages of 1.5 billion pounds ($2.2 billion), alleging that the U.S. bank misled him over the EMI deal.
"We are very pleased that Terra Firma has unreservedly withdrawn the allegations, agreed to the dismissal of the proceedings and will pay Citi's costs in relation to this matter," Citigroup said in a statement.
The latest court case over EMI, the home of the artists including The Beatles, began only on Tuesday. Hands told the court that the deal had personally cost him around 200 million euros ($225 million).
Hands had previously tried unsuccessfully to sue Citigroup in the United States. A judge found in Citgroup's favor in 2010 but a court later said that the judge had not properly instructed the jury and revived the case.
