New Mountain Capital (New Mountain), a growth-oriented investment firm with over $45bn in assets under management, is to acquire Broadcast Music, Inc (BMI), the music licensing agency that represents hundreds of thousands of songwriters, including Taylor Swift, Dolly Parton, Kendrick Lamar and Lady Gaga,
Headquartered in New York, BMI secures royalties for its affiliates by offering licenses to businesses for the performing rights in 22.4 million musical works. Following the completion of the acquisition, Mike O’Neill, BMI’s President & CEO, will continue to lead the company, along with his leadership team.
New Mountain, which is acquiring BMI from its current shareholders, has reserved additional capital to fund growth investments, new ventures, and technology enhancements to help accelerate BMI’s long-term plan to maximise distributions for its affiliates and improve the service it provides to songwriters, composers and publishers.
As part of the agreement, and in recognition of the creativity of the songwriters, composers and publishers they have had the privilege to represent, BMI’s current shareholders will allocate $100 million of the proceeds of the sale to affiliates shortly after the transaction closing. The allocation of those funds, while not a distribution of royalties, will be in keeping with the company’s distribution methodologies, which are based on performance levels over a set period of time. BMI will work to finalise an equitable payout plan for this allocation in the coming months.
