Switch off the editor’s digest free of charge
Roula Khalaf, editor of the FT, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Blackstone has taken the hipnosis name for its $ 3 billion for musical investment group because he is preparing to buy songs less than a year after the British owner of the British owner for songs by Red Hot Chili Peppers and Shakira.
The US private equity group renamed its musical investment business as recognition after bringing its various music interests together to a company that has a portfolio of more than 45,000 songs and recordings from over 145 catalogs.
The group has material rights from songwriters and artists such as The Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young and Justin Bieber.
Ben Katovsky, managing director of recognition, said that the new operation would work in a “fundamentally different” way than it was three separate companies.
The group combines the songs and recordings that belong to the fund hipgnosis songs assets and the earlier funds Hipnosis songs findwhich Blackstone took privately last year.
The Deal for hipgnosis songs find pursued a bidding battle between the US investment group Concord and Blackstone supported by Apollo, which ultimately won with an offer of more than USD 1.6 billion.
The new group also includes hipnosis song management, which was previously the investment consultant for both funds. Overall, the group’s assets are worth more than $ 3 billion, said the people who are familiar with the matter.
Hipgnosis was originally founded by the former band manager Merckuriadis In 2018. An attempt was made to transform musical rights into a mainstream classification class and generate an income for investors from streaming, radio play and performances.
Qasim Abbas, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, said the Financial Times that it would acquire further new music portfolios for the company in the future.
He said Blackstone was “committed to the wealth class and the market”, which indicates “predictable long-term cash flow profile” for musical rights. He added that the company should now build in music rights in its position as a “leading independent investor”.
In November last year, Blackstone completed a securing of the assets of $ 1.5 billion in the former hipgnosis group, one of the largest debts for musical rights that were previously issued for musical rights.
Abbas said: “Both debt investors and equity investors increase and develop interest in the market. The market continues to matured and institutionalized. “
Katovsky said the recognition was now an integrated company that had the music and made this music, and added that it was “fundamentally different” from before.
The group had already invested in technology to further increase the value of the assets, added Katovsky. Investments would promote the use of the material in films and on television and help collect license fees from all over the world, he said.
The extent of the combined business as one of the greatest owners of musical rights gave recognition a “unique advantage”, added Katovsky.
“We have a strong ambition to grow,” he said, adding that the recognition about his acquisitions would be selective.
“We will make you reasonable price points and we will also try to maintain the quality of our portfolio,” said Katovsky.
