A federal appeals court has revived British buyout mogul Guy Hands's lawsuit accusing Citigroup of deceiving him into overpaying for EMI, the multinational music company.

The US Circuit Court of Appeals said yesterday that a US district judge had earlier incorrectly instructed the jury on the relevant English law, which both sides agreed governed the case. The appeals court ordered that the case be sent back for a new trial.

Mr Hands’s private equity firm Terra Firma in 2007 paid £4 billion, then equal to $6.5 billion, for EMI, with Citigroup putting up much of the financing.

Mr Hands however said he had been misled by David Wormsley, a top Citigroup banker in Europe, and overpaid for EMI at the height of the buyout bubble. Terra Firma later defaulted on some loans and Citigroup seized EMI. – (Reuters)