EMI on Monday night looked set to become the lastest big-name UK brand to fall into private equity hands after the music publishing group agreed to a £3.2bn ($6.5bn) takeover offer, including £800m debt, from Terra Firma.

EMI, the world’s third-largest music group by sales, said it had agreed a 265p-a-share cash bid from Terra Firma, the private equity group run by Guy Hands, hours after the buy-out group made a final, sealed bid ahead of Monday’s 10am BST deadline.