May News

Posted May 2, 201015 yr

Another month. 2010 is fairly zooming along :o

May 2, 201015 yr

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From

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/81...money_with_art/

DEMELZA: Children join Robbie Williams and Lily Allen to raise money with art

12:40pm Sunday 2nd May 2010

ARTWORK by children at a hospice is being auctioned to raise money for charity.

The project, involving children from across the News Shopper area who use the Demelza hospice charity, has been set up to mark Children’s Hospice Awareness Week which runs from May 17 to May 22.

Children have designed their own artwork around the theme of heroes, some of which will be available for a silent bid auction.

Celebrities including pop stars Lily Allen and Robbie Williams have also produced works.

All money raised form the auctions will go to Demelza.

The artwork can be viewed at thisismyhero.org.uk or by visiting the exhibition at The Gallery in Cork Street, London, during the week.

Robbie's contribution can be viewed here

http://www.thisismyhero.org.uk/profile.asp?profileid=78

Edited May 2, 201015 yr by Jupiter9

May 9, 201015 yr

Hands 'confident' of EMI finance

Guy Hands is understood to have secured the backing he needs from investors to stop music group EMI slipping into the hands of Citigroup, it has been reported.

The financier is thought to have got verbal agreement from 75% of investors in his Terra Firma fund to put a further £105 million into EMI, according to Sunday newspapers.

Mr Hands is said to be "confident" that enough of the 200 investors, whose vote is weighted according to the size of their holding, will back him.

He has put forward a new business plan, drawn up by Charles Allen, the executive chairman of EMI's recorded music division, which includes the possibility of selling off some assets. But the vote is still expected to be extremely tight, and a number of investors are thought to have rejected the new business plan as being too ambitious.

Mr Hands has until Friday to give Citigroup a compliance certificate showing that EMI can avoid breaching the terms of its £3.2 billion loans for another year. If he is unable to do this, Citigroup would take control of EMI, whose acts include Robbie Williams and Coldplay, by June 14.

The £105 million being raised is well short of the £360 million Mr Hands originally wanted to tide the group over until 2015, and he will still have to go back to investors to ask for an additional £255 million later in the year, or secure the additional funding from other sources.

Terra Firma bought EMI for £4.2 billion in 2007 on the eve of the credit crunch, borrowing £3.2 billion from Citigroup to fund the deal.

But the music group has seen its finances strained by difficult trading conditions, and posted a £1.75 billion loss for the year to March 2009 in accounts released earlier this year, after suffering more than £1.1 billion in one-off write-downs and restructuring charges.

Terra Firma is currently engaged in legal action against Citigroup, claiming the bank "misrepresented fundamental facts" over the sale of EMI.

It alleges Citigroup falsely said there were other bidders for the record company, causing it to raise its bid. Citigroup denies the allegations. No one from EMI could be contacted to comment.

Source ..The Press Association

May 9, 201015 yr

Guy Hands' investors vote on future of EMI record label

Guy Hands, the private equity boss, will today face an investor vote that decides whether he keeps control of EMI, the debt-laden record label bought by his Terra Firma fund in 2007.

Mr Hands must persuade his investors to stump up £105m to save the musiccompany from falling into the hands of its lender, Citigroup, on Friday.

He is believed to have raised enough cash from Terra Firma's backers based on verbal agreements but the final vote could still be on a knife edge.

Mr Hands must send Citigroup a compliance certificate showing that EMI will keep inside the terms of its £3.2bn loan covenants for another year.

If Citigroup seizes control of the music group, it could be broken up and sold off as early as June 14.

While EMI remains in limbo, predators have been circling ahead of a potential default. Rival record label Warner is thought to have undertaken informal conversations with private equity giant KKR with a view to making a bid for EMI should Citigroup take control.

The battle for EMI has been raging for many months, causing Elio Leoni-Sceti, the chief executive, to walk away after nearly two years at the helm.

Mr Hands appointed veteran media industry executive Charles Allen, a former boss of ITV, to bolster its credentials and help turn around the label, whose artists include Lily Allen and Robbie Williams.

The Terra Firma boss has for some weeks been preparing a plan to take to investors in order to see the music label through to March 2011. But Citigroup believes it has the power to block Terra Firma's plans if they are not in the interests of the company.

Mr Hands has been fighting back, having won the right to sue Citigroup in New York over its role in the EMI deal.

Source...Telegraph UK

May 15, 201015 yr

BRAND IS THE MANE MAN

CAN you imagine a pop single with RUSSELL BRAND and ROBBIE WILLIAMS singing a duet !

It sounds like something the pair might have thought about when they were pickled on illegal substances in the Nineties.

But West Ham fanatic Russ and Port Vale fan Rob are the leading stars of a reworked version of that bleedin' England anthem Three Lions for next month's World Cup.

As a proud Scot, it's going to be a difficult few months for me with all this misty-eyed, En-ger-land, 1966 carry-on.

But the Three Lions remake will top the charts - and for that reason alone it's my duty to give you the score on it.

Super producer TREVOR HORNE has remastered the original with IAN BROUDIE from THE LIGHTNING SEEDS.

FRANK SKINNER and DAVID BADDIEL, who created Three Lions with The Lightning Seeds, are also involved in the 2010 version.

Add a bit of commentary from JOHN MOTSON and some cheering crowds (probably the Tartan Army) from previous tournaments and, hey presto, it's a surefire chart-topper this summer.

I got hold of Russell, who told me: "I was embarrassed by how emotional I felt singing this song. I nearly cried.

"It took me back to Euro '96 - Spice Boys, dentist's chairs and Gazza's last hurrah.

"It's the only good England song and I look forward to singing it as we crash out on penalties. Then I will be crying."

Funny that. I cried too when I heard the song - for very different reasons.

As I've said before, it will never beat the Tartan Army's We Have A Dream from Spain '82 or Ally's Tartan Army from Argentina '78.

But this song is, I grudgingly admit, very good.

Russell is having a real dabble in music at the moment.

An album is on the cards from his new comedy flick Get Him To The Greek. It stars Russ as fictional washed-up rocker Alduous Snow and is out in the UK next month.

The songs are brilliant and could bring Russell more chart glory.

Meanwhile, on Three Lions, Robbie said: "I've always been approached to write football songs but have declined as I thought Three Lions could never be beaten.

"I am counting down the days until the start of the World Cup."

Me too. I can't wait to see Spain and Argentina in the final.

Listen to the sample :thumbup: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showb...Cup-anthem.html