Guy Hands on road towards £200m cattle deal with James Packer

What’s the connection between EMI and James Packer? Seasoned quiz addicts might quickly press their buzzers and shout "Atom Heart Mother", the Pink Floyd album that featured a grazing cow on its sleeve in 1970. Or perhaps even Animals, another Pink Floyd album released by EMI in 1977. The link is, or rather will be, farming.

Guy Hands, whose Terra Firma investment vehicle owns EMI, wants to make the connection a little more substantial, however. Terra Firma is on the verge of buying Mr Packer’s Australian cattle ranches, which cover an area 2½ times the size of Wales.

The planned deal, for about £200 million, would allow Mr Hands to reduce his private equity firm’s dependence on its underpressure music major by investing in an industry – agriculture – that, unlike music, has a long, established history and a guaranteed future.

Terra Firma is understood to be the preferred bidder for the ranches, which are 90 per cent-owned by Mr Packer, who inherited them from his late father Kerry. The remaining 10 per cent will stay in the hands of Ken Warriner, a friend of the Packer family, who runs the ranches and will remain in charge after the deal is completed.