{"id":94132,"date":"2020-11-02T07:00:16","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T07:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=94132"},"modified":"2020-11-02T07:03:50","modified_gmt":"2020-11-02T07:03:50","slug":"hipgnosis-songs-fund-buys-huge-catalog-from-kobalt-in-322-9m-acquisition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/hipgnosis-songs-fund-buys-huge-catalog-from-kobalt-in-322-9m-acquisition\/","title":{"rendered":"Hipgnosis Songs Fund buys huge catalog from Kobalt in $322.9m acquisition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hipgnosis Songs Fund just did its biggest deal yet.<\/p>\n

UK-listed Hipgnosis has today (November 2) confirmed that it has acquired over 33,000 songs \/ cuts in songs from Kobalt Music Copyrights S.\u00e0.r.l, for a total consideration of $322.9 million.<\/p>\n

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That’s the biggest full acquisition announced in music publishing since Concord acquired Imagem for over $550m in summer 2017<\/a>, although that deal was for an entire music company, rather than a catalog of copyrights.<\/p>\n

Hipgnosis’ Kobalt deal is bigger than more recent giant buyouts in music publishing including Round Hill Music’s \u2248$245m acquisition<\/a> of Carlin Music in early 2018.<\/p>\n

Ascertaining precisely what’s in the Kobalt acquisition is obviously important.<\/p>\n

Kobalt Capital Ltd operates separately to Kobalt Music Group Ltd, the home of Kobalt Music Publishing, Kobalt Neighbouring Rights and AWAL.<\/p>\n

Kobalt Capital, in turn, manages the acquisition of copyrights on behalf of different funds, with each of these funds backed by institutional investors.<\/p>\n

Hipgnosis has acquired the portfolio owned by Kobalt Capital’s first fund, which launched in 2011. It includes 42 catalogs written by more than 1,500 songwriters across a range of genres.<\/p>\n

This portfolio generated $18m in 2019, up 6% YoY.<\/p>\n

Hipgnosis has confirmed that the $322.9m it’s paid for the deal represents a 18.3X blended acquisition multiple on the catalog’s historic annual income.<\/p>\n

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The deal includes catalogs from hit writers such as Lindsey Buckingham, Steve Winwood, the B-52s, 50 Cent, Savan Kotecha, Skrillex, Nelly, Bonnie McKee, George Benson, Christina Perri, and Walter Afanasieff (including Afanasieff’s cut on Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You, <\/em>which broke the all-time Spotify record<\/a> for global 24 hours plays during the festive season last year).<\/p>\n

The portfolio also includes 18,000 songs from the\u00a0Nettwerk music publishing catalog<\/a>, which Kobalt Capital acquired in 2016.<\/p>\n

(For clarification: the Hipgnosis deal doesn’t include the SONGS publishing catalog, which Kobalt Capital acquired for \u2248$160m in late 2017<\/a> using its second fund, through which it raised $600m<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The list of hits covered by the first Kobalt Capital fund’s catalog, which is now owned by Hipgnosis, include:<\/p>\n