Blackstone Completes Acquisition of Hipgnosis Songs Fund

Blackstone has officially completed its $1.6-billion acquisition of Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF), bringing an end to the six-year-old, London-listed investment trust that amassed a catalog of 65,000 copyrights including songs by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Journey, Shakira and Neil Young. 

Following a shareholder vote on July 8 and a court approval on Friday (July 26), the acquisition scheme was delivered to the Guernsey Register on Monday (July 29), according to a regulatory filing. As a result, all HSF shares are now owned by Blackstone and trading was suspended on Monday. HSF shares are expected to be removed from the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday morning (July 30). 

With the acquisition effective, Robert Naylor, Cindy Rampersaud, Francis Keeling, Christopher Mills and Simon Holden resigned from the HSF board. Ben Katovsky, CEO of Hipgnosis Song Management (HSM), and Dan Pounder, HSM’s CFO, were appointed to the board. 

The deal allows Blackstone to consolidate its interests under the Hipgnosis umbrella. In 2021, Blackstone launched a $1 billion partnership with HSM to acquire and co-manage music catalogs. Under the deal, Blackstone took a stake in HSM, the investment advisor to HSF, and formed Hipgnosis Songs Capital (HSC). HSC acquired rights to the music of some notable stars, including Justin Timberlake and Kenny Chesney in 2022 and Justin Bieber in 2023.

Led by former artist manager Merck Mecuriadis, HSF went public on July 11, 2018, and raised 200 million pounds ($260 million) to begin canvassing the music business in search of high-profile catalogs. Through subsequent offerings in 2019, 2020 and 2021, HSF brought its total capital raised to nearly 1.3 billion pounds ($1.67 billion). In March 2020, HSF became a constituent of the FTSE 250, an index that holds the 101st to 350th largest companies on the London Stock Exchange. 

As the music industry soared on the back of streaming growth, the publicly traded HSF ran into turmoil. By 2021, a deflated share price hampered HSF’s ability to raise additional capital to acquire more catalogs. Shareholders were frustrated by a series of missteps and voted against continuation in 2023, which prompted HSF’s board to conduct a strategic review that produced evidence of overstated revenue and earnings. Mercuriadis stepped down as CEO of HSM in February and resigned his position as chairman in July. Blackstone emerged as the highest bidder in April, beating out Concord, which had made a $1.4-billion offer earlier that month.