Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited (HSFL), the disruptive, UK-based rights management firm run by Merck Mercuriadis, has raised another stack of cash.
Earlier today (August 27), the company, which trades on the London Stock Exchange, announced a proposed equity raise via a placing of additional Ordinary Shares to willing buyers.
By the close of business, this deal was done: Hipgnosis and its Investment Adviser, The Family (Music) Limited, has confirmed that the company has successfully raised approximately £51.1m ($62.8m) at a price of 105.5 pence per share, principally from existing shareholders.
These newly snapped-up shared represent 12.4% of the firm’s Ordinary Share capital.
Today’s news comes less than five months after HSFL announced it had raised $185m to acquire music rights, which was additional to the $265m it raised when it floated on the stock exchange last summer.
“This is not only great for the investors but the songwriting and artistic community as well.”
Merck Mercuriadis, Hipgnosis Songs Fund (pictured)
With the additional $62.8m on board, then, HSFL will have raised comfortably more than $500m to date.
Within an FY report published by Hipgnosis in June, the firm said that it expected to have spent its remaining capital, excluding any leverage, by the end of July 2019. It added: “We now have a pipeline of catalogs with an aggregate value in excess of £1 billion.”
Since that report was published HSFL has acquired the premium publishing catalogs of artists including The Chainsmokers and Benny Blanco.
Merck Mercuriadis, Founder of The Family (Music) Limited and Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, said today: “We are delighted to continue giving our shareholders exposure to music royalties via new acquisitions of some of the most iconic songs of all time.
“I’m very grateful for the constant enthusiasm and support that the finest institutional investors in the world have given us to establish songs as an asset class. This is not only great for the investors but the songwriting and artistic community as well.”
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