Blackstone has upped the ante in the bidding war to acquire troubled music rights business Hipgnosis Songs Fund with an improved $1.6bn offer, trumping a rival $1.5bn bid from Concord, a US-based music investment group backed by Apollo Global Management, according to a report by Reuters.
Blackstone’s latest formal offer is at $1.30 per share, which is higher than Concord’s $1.25 per share offer made last Wednesday, trumps its original bid for the business by 10 cents per share and has won the support of Hipgnosis’s board.
The board subsequently withdrew its backing for Concord’s bid and is reportedly set to back Blackstone’s revised offer instead.
If the deal proceeds, the rights to Hipgnosis’s 65,000 songs including those by Blondie and Neil Young, will be added to Blackstone’s existing music rights portfolio, which includes artists Justin Bieber and Justin Timberlake.
Blackstone is a majority shareholder in Hipgnosis’ investment adviser, HSM, which manages artists and songwriters for the fund, and holds a call option to make a higher offer for Hipgnosis’ portfolio if their advisory agreement were to be terminated.
The Blackstone proposal is independent of HSM.
