LONDON (CelebrityAccess) – Blackstone’s $1.584 billion bid for UK-listed music company Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF) received overwhelming approval from HSF shareholders at a Court Meeting and General Meeting held on Monday (July 8).
An impressive 99.97% of the Scheme Shares voted in favor of the deal. Blackstone needed at least 75% of voting shares to proceed, and despite earlier speculation that hedge funds holding significant HSF stock might block the sale, this did not occur. According to the Financial Times, hedge funds such as TIG (14% stake), Glazer Capital (8%), Kryger Capital (6.6%), and Sand Grove Capital Management (6%) owned shares in HSF.
Blackstone’s bid, which targets HSF’s equity, places HSF’s enterprise value at around $2.20 billion when considering debt and other factors. This valuation surpasses the cumulative price at which Hipgnosis founder Merck Mercuriadis acquired the assets for HSF, factoring in Right-To-Income.
Post-acquisition, Blackstone will control two Hipgnosis-branded song portfolios: Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF) and Hipgnosis Songs Capital (HSA), which owns interests associated with artists like Leonard Cohen, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, Nelly Furtado, and Kenny Chesney.
HSF and HSA will continue collaborating with Hipgnosis Song Management (HSM), led by CEO Ben Katovsky. Blackstone is the majority owner of HSM.
Earlier this month, HSM announced that its founder and Chairman, Mercuriadis, would be stepping down. Mercuriadis stated, “This is a timely opportunity for me to undertake a strategic shift of focus and to spend more time advocating on behalf of songwriters to ensure that they are properly compensated for their work.”
Blackstone is acquiring HSF through Lyra Bidco Ltd, an entity fully financed by an equity investment from funds advised by Blackstone affiliates. Blackstone, which manages $1 trillion in assets across various sectors, continues to expand its investment portfolio.
HSF has built a robust portfolio comprising 138 catalogs containing copyrights and income streams from over 40,000 songs.
