Two senior dealmakers involved in Terra Firma’s £3.2 billion acquisition of the struggling record group EMI are leaving the private equity firm.

Chris Roling, who was parachuted into EMI as chief operating officer and chief financial officer by Guy Hands, Terra Firma’s founder, is leaving after Terra Firma injected an undisclosed sum into the business.

Ashley Unwin, EMI’s chief operating officer for the UK and North America and Terra Firma’s managing director of talent, has also left, along with François van der Spuy, another Terra Firma director working at EMI.

Elio Leoni-Sceti, EMI’s new chief executive, is understood to want to bring in his own senior management. More than 30 staff from Terra Firma have been seconded to EMI, which represents artists including Coldplay, Norah Jones and Robbie Williams, since it was acquired last year.

The deal was completed just as the credit crunch started. Its main backer is Citigroup, which lent Terra Firma £2.6 billion to buy EMI. Since then, the loan has had to be underwritten by the US Government after Citi’s bailout.

It is understood that Terra Firma had to make a cash injection into EMI in September from existing funds raised after the EMI deal closed last year so it would meet the terms of Citi’s loan.

One source said that the departures could also signal that Terra Firma is reducing its workforce in response to the downturn.

Mr Roling worked at ICI, the chemicals group, before joining Terra Firma last year, while Mr Unwin worked as a management consultant at Deloitte before joining the private equity firm.

In a scathing critique in October, Terra Firma accused EMI of dismal management as it ran up a £757 million loss in the year in which it was acquired. The poor results were accompanied by a review of the year written by Lord Birt, the former BBC director-general, who now chairs the company that runs EMI.

Lord Birt said that the company’s problems stemmed from “a culture and behaviours embedded not just in EMI but in much of the wider music industry”.

Mr Hands said that EMI will cut £200 million of costs by the end of this financial year. About 1,500 people have lost their jobs at the company since the takeover.

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