Kobalt Music Copyrights' catalogues sold to Hipgnosis

 

By Emmanuel Legrand

 

Hipgnosis Songs Fund has acquired Kobalt Music Copyrights' catalogues for a total consideration of $322.9 million. Kobalt Music Copyrights was launched in 2011 as part of Kobalt Capital, the investment arm of Kobalt. It owns the rights to 33,000 songs or cuts in songs written by over 1,500 songwriters from 42 catalogues, including 18,000 songs from the Nettwerk music publishing catalogue, acquired by Kobalt Capital in 2016.

 

  Following the acquisition, Hipgnosis Songs Fund owns 117 catalogues with a total of 57,000 songs. Overall, the London-listed company founded by Merck Mercuriadis, said the aggregate acquisition value of the catalogues is worth £1.18bn ($1.5bn). The Kobalt deal is the biggest done by Hipgnosis since its launch.

  “Hipgnosis has had a special relationship with Kobalt Music since its inception so it’s only natural that we would eventually make a deal like this for Kobalt Capital’s inaugural fund," said Mercuriadis, who described the acquisition as "a wonderful portfolio of proven songs that is incomparable with almost anything other than the Hipgnosis Songs catalogue, which it complements beautifully."

 

An easy decision to sell

  The assets acquired by Hipgnosis include songs by Steve Winwood, Lindsey Buckingham, Bonnie McKee, Walter Afanasieff, George Benson, Enrique Iglesias, the B-52s, 50 Cent, Christina Perri, George Thorogood, Skrillex, among others.

  “When we started KCL in 2010, it was the world’s first regulated music royalties fund, offering clients our unique, transparent service and giving them comfort that we could provide a long-term commitment to administer their works if they wanted to sell their copyrights," said Willard Ahdritz, Founder & Chairman of Kobalt and Chief Investment Officer of Kobalt Capital Limited. 

 

  He added: “I am pleased to say that we have delivered on our promises to both our clients and our investors. The KCL advisory board has agreed to sell our first fund to Hipgnosis. The decision to sell to Merck and Hipgnosis was an easy one as we know them so well and the copyrights will be well taken care of under a long-term administration arrangement with Kobalt Music Group.”