For more than 1,500 million dollars
The firm, in financial problems, accepts an offer of 1,572 million dollars for the 140 repertoires that it has been accumulating
The repertoires of Shakira, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Neil Young and other musical icons will pass into the hands of the investment fund Blackstone after its owner, Hipgnosis Song Fund, agreed this Monday to be acquired after a bidding war. Hipgnosis Songs Fund, a British company that owns music rights, has agreed to a purchase offer from Blackstone valued at 1,572 million dollarswhich surpasses the bid of a rival with whom its board of directors seemed to have settled last week, according to a statement.
Hipgnosis, created in 2018 and specialized in music royalties and intellectual property rights, has almost 140 repertoires – whole or partial and representing some 40,000 songs – from some of the most successful artists of the last half century, including Justin Bieber or Ed Sheeran, reports EFE. Blackstone, through a holding company called Lyra Bidco, has offered to pay $1.30 for each Hipgnosis share, the winning bid in a nearly two-week battle with Concord Chorus, another music rights firm backed by the investment fund. Apollo, indicates the note.
One of the directors of Blackstone, Qassim Abbas, He highlighted that the offer represents a “significant premium” that will quickly provide cash to the shareholders of Hipgnosis, a company that faces a complicated financial situation after having recognized that it overestimated its business figures.. For his part, Hipgnosis president Robert Naylor said the board of directors had unanimously recommended Blackstone’s offer and appreciated the “competing interests” in purchasing the company.
