Blackstone is putting its money where its mouth is.
Last week, Concord – partly financed by Apollo Global Management – launched a USD $1.511 billion cash bid for the portfolio of Hipgnosis Songs Fund. That was the equivalent of USD $1.25 per share.
Today (April 29), Blackstone and HSF’s board have jointly announced a new offer from Blackstone worth around $60 million more than Concord’s latest bid.
Blackstone has bid USD $1.572 billion – $1.30 per share – in cash for 100% of HSF’s share capital.
The offer is officially being made by Lyra Bidco Ltd, an entity that is fully financed by an equity investment from funds advised by affiliates of Blackstone.
The Hipgnosis Songs Fund board says it is now recommending Blackstone’s offer to its shareholders, and withdrawing its previous recommendation of Concord’s $1.25-per-share offer.
(Noteworthy: Concord’s offer contained a clause that the firm, if successful in its bid, would resell around 30% of the HSF catalog within 24 months after buying it. The Blackstone offer contains no such clause.)
With HSF’s debt taken into account, Blackstone’s latest offer values HSF at approximately USD $2.177 billion.
That is significantly larger than the valuation recently put on HSF by Shot Tower Capital, which had a midpoint of USD $1.93 billion.
Commenting on today’s announcement, Robert Naylor, the Chair of Hipgnosis, said: “The Board is pleased to unanimously recommend this US$1.6 billion Offer for Hipgnosis from Blackstone.
“Since we started our strategic review, we have been clearly focused on looking at all the options to deliver shareholder value. We are delighted that, following competitive interests in acquiring Hipgnosis, our investors now have a chance to immediately realise their holding at an increased premium.”
Qasim Abbas, Senior Managing Director of Blackstone, said: “Our offer price, which has been unanimously recommended by the Board, represents a significant premium to the unaffected share price and allows shareholders to realise immediate and attractive value for their shareholding. The offer is the result of extensive discussion and negotiations with the Board and provides shareholders the certainty of cash today.
“Blackstone is a long-term investor with deep experience of investing across the media and entertainment sectors, including in music rights. The breadth of the Blackstone platform, combined with our operational expertise, will support and enhance the value of the…
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