Hg Capital has agreed to acquire California-based rights and royalties management software provider Rightsline in a deal valued at around $500m including debt, marking the firm’s first new buyout since the software sector sell-off earlier this year, according to a report by the Financial Times.
Rightsline provides licensing and royalty management software to media and entertainment groups including Disney, the BBC and Warner Bros Discovery.
The deal follows a difficult period for software-focused private equity investors after AI-related disruption triggered a sharp correction in SaaS valuations earlier this year. The market sell-off led to a slowdown in software buyouts as firms reassessed valuation models and long-term growth prospects.
Rightsline’s platform was reportedly viewed as more resilient to AI disruption due to its reliance on complex customer data, managing large-scale intellectual property rights across multiple territories and languages.
Hg also delayed the planned London IPO of accounting software group Visma earlier this year following the broader software market volatility.
