Pryor Cashman client Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, the first UK-listed investment company offering investors a pure-play exposure to songs and associated intellectual property rights, has agreed to sell 29 songwriter catalogs to a Blackstone-backed investment fund for $440 million.
The portfolio of catalogs in the deal includes songs from across multiple decades written by Barry Manilow, Shakira, Rick James, Nelly, and others.
The complex transaction includes a "go-shop" provision that allows the company to solicit superior proposals for the catalogs from third parties and provides Blackstone with a right to match any superior offer.
As described in the company's public announcement, the company intends to use the net proceeds of the transaction, plus approximately $25 million from the separate sale of a portfolio of non-core assets, to fund a share buyback program and reduce its existing debt in order to potentially re-rate the company's share price and narrow the discount between the share price and the fundamental value of the company's assets, while at the same time enhancing the quality of the company's remaining portfolio.
Pryor Cashman is acting as U.S. and special music counsel to Hipgnosis in this significant transaction. The team is led by James Janowitz, Michael Weinsier, Frank Scibilia, John Crowe, and Eric Wisostsky, with assistance from Sophia Sofferman, Joshua Weigensberg, RJ McLaughlin, Bianka Valbrun, Shrivats Sanganeria, and Taylor Weinstein. Hipgnosis is also represented in the transaction by its regular U.K. corporate counsel Herbert Smith Freehills.
Read more about the deal in the press release linked below.
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