And that’s that. Hipgnosis Songs Fund will officially delist from the London Stock Exchange next week, with its new owner Blackstone taking the company’s assets private.
The news marks the conclusion of a marathon bidding war for the assets of HSF, with Blackstone emerging as the winner in its battle with Concord over the acquisition.
On July 8, HSF shareholders voted in favor of Blackstone’s USD $1.584 billion bid for the UK-listed company at a Court Meeting and General Meeting.
Blackstone is acquiring Hipgnosis Songs Fund via Lyra Bidco Ltd, an entity that is fully financed by an equity investment from funds advised by affiliates of Blackstone.
The acquisition is being implemented via a so-called “court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement” under Part VIII of UK Companies Law.
Earlier today (Friday, July 26), in an update to the market in the UK, the Hipgnosis Board and Bidco Board jointly announced that, at “the Scheme Court Hearing held earlier today, the Royal Court of Guernsey granted the Scheme Court Order sanctioning the Scheme pursuant to which the Acquisition is being implemented.”
In other words, the court has signed off on the acquisition, and “the Scheme” – i.e. the acquisition – will become effective on Monday (July 29, 2024).
As a result, HSF will officially delist from the London Stock Exchange, effective 8am London time on Tuesday (July 30).
According to today’s update:
“Applications have been made to the London Stock Exchange for the suspension, and subsequent cancellation, of the admission to trading of Hipgnosis Shares on the Main Market and to the Financial Conduct Authority for the cancellation of the listing of the Hipgnosis Shares on the Official List.
“The suspension of Hipgnosis Shares from the Official List and of dealings in Hipgnosis Shares on the Main Market are each expected to take effect from 7.30 a.m. (London time) on 29 July 2024. Once suspended, it is not expected that trading in Hipgnosis Shares will recommence and therefore the last day of dealings in, and for registration of transfers of, Hipgnosis Shares on the London Stock Exchange, and disablement of Hipgnosis Shares in CREST, will be 26 July 2024.
“It is expected that, subject to the Scheme becoming Effective, the cancellation of the listing of Hipgnosis Shares from the Official List, and of the admission to trading of Hipgnosis Shares on the Main Market, will take effect from 8.00 a.m. (London time) on 30 July 2024.”
Following its acquisition of HSF, Blackstone will own two Hipgnosis-branded song portfolios: Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF) plus Hipgnosis Songs Capital aka Hipgnosis Songs Assets (HSA).
The latter company (HSA) is the private owner of assets/interests associated with songwriters such as Leonard Cohen, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, Nelly Furtado, and Kenny Chesney.
Both HSF and HSA continue to work closely with their investment adviser, Hipgnosis Song Management (HSM), which is run by CEO, Ben Katovsky.
Blackstone is understood to be the majority-owned of HSM.
Earlier this month, Hipgnosis Song Management announced that the company’s founder and Chairman, Merck Mercuriadis, was stepping away from the firm.
Mercuriadis said: “This is a timely opportunity for me to undertake a strategic shift of focus, and to spend more time advocating on behalf of songwriters to ensure that they are properly compensated for their work.”
Hipgnosis Songs Fund has built a portfolio currently comprising 138 catalogs containing copyright and/or income streams from more than 40,000 songs.Music Business Worldwide.
In total, Blackstone says it has USD $1 trillion in assets under management today in all sectors, across investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds.Music Business Worldwide