Terra Firma hires former Citigroup banker Tabet

Guy Hands's Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd. hired former Citigroup Inc. banker Kamal Tabet as head of investor relations, four months after the U.S. lender took control of EMI Group Ltd. from the private equity firm.

Tabet was formerly head of a team at Citigroup that advised private equity firms on acquisitions and raising funds, the London-based company said in a statement today. He left the New York-based bank in January 2009, and wasn't directly involved in Hands's purchase of EMI.

Tabet “has had a hugely successful career at senior levels in international banking, most recently serving the best private equity firms in the world,” Hands said. “He will make a huge contribution to the future development of Terra Firma.”

Hands, who bet and lost almost a third of his firm's 5.4 billion-euro ($7.9 billion) leveraged-buyout fund on EMI, told investors last months he expects his next fund will at least be 44 percent smaller. Terra Firma last year lost a lawsuit in which it accused Citigroup of tricking it into overpaying for EMI in 2007. Citigroup was advising EMI while also providing debt financing to fund Hands's offer for the Beatles' label.

Private equity firms raised $225 billion last year, the least since 2004 as investors became reluctant to commit money to new funds before reaping profits from previous investments, according to London research firm Preqin Ltd.

Tabet, who has worked at Citigroup for 14 years, previously worked at Lazard Ltd. in New York and Republic National Bank of New York.