We can work it out
The place where the Beatles’ fourth album, “Beatles for Sale,” was recorded is now itself for sale.
In a move that has more historical than financial significance, struggling record label EMI is fielding offers for the legendary Abbey Road studio in London.
Abbey Road is to music what Yankee Stadium is to baseball, and its potential sale after nearly 80 years under EMI’s control, not only marks the end of an era, but adds to the hit that EMI owner and Terra Firma boss Guy Hands has suffered to his reputation as an investor by adding a huge cultural gaffe to his image as well.
Indeed, while Abbey Road is best known for its recording sessions with the Beatles, a broad array of acts — from Connie Francis and Pink Floyd to Duran Duran and Radiohead — have come through the white Georgian townhouse with gray trim.
Sources familiar with the matter said that EMI began considering a sale of Abbey Road after receiving “inbound inquires” from parties looking to buy it recently.
They cautioned, however, that there’s a strong possibility that EMI wouldn’t go through with a sale.
Sources estimated that Abbey Road could fetch as much as $50 million in a sale. That’s less than one-third of the roughly $188 million that Terra Firma needs to raise from investors to avoid defaulting on its $5.2 billion in debt held by Citigroup.
Representatives for EMI and Hands declined to comment.
Given that a sale of Abbey Road would do little to lift EMI’s debt load, sources wondered what is motivating Hands to seek a deal for the recording studio.
One conclusion is that real estate isn’t core to a record label and therefore a logical asset to divest.
But considering how intertwined Abbey Road is with EMI’s heritage, a sale seems like nothing but a public relations headache for Hands, whose stewardship of EMI — so much a part of English culture that the Queen used to be consulted on its business decisions — has already raised the ire of many.
