Blackstone wins shareholder support to buy Hipgnosis Songs Fund

Six years after it listed on the London Stock Exchange, a majority of Hipgnosis Songs Fund shareholders voted on Monday (July 8) to sell the fund to Blackstone for $1.6 billion, according to a regulatory filing.

According to the filing, 99.97% of shares voted in favor of the sale to the private equity giant – 59.21% of voting shares participated in the vote.

The vote caps a rollercoaster for shareholders and the fund's board, which began looking for outside buyers to appease investors who, frustrated by the fund's low share price and the cancellation of the dividend, voted against continuing. last September.

The decision by the majority of Hipgnosis investors to sell to private equity follows a similar decision by Round Hill Music Royalty Fund investors, who voted to sell to Concord Music Group for $469 million last September. Both funds provided a pure investment in music copyrights and both were taken private in less than seven years.

The trillion-dollar global investment giant first became involved with Hipgnosis in 2021 when Blackstone Tactical Opportunities' top managing director Qasim Abbas launched a private buyout fund with the founder of HSF Merck Mercuriadis. With the acquisition of the Hipgnosis Songs Fund portfolio of approximately 65,000 songs, Blackstone owns all of Hipgnosis, including the private music assets of Hipgnosis Songs Assets and Hipgnosis Song Management, the investment advisor to both portfolios.

The collection of rights held by HSF includes songs by Neil Young, Journey, Lindsey Buckingham and Blondie, as well as several songwriter and producer rights shares for songs performed by J.Austin Bieber and others.

Blackstone's offer awards investors $1.31 per share and values ​​HSF's equity at a total of $1.584 billion.

In addition to the Hipgnosis companies, which Blackstone owns through its Tactical Opportunities fund, Blackstone also owns music rights organization SESAC and MNRK Music Group.