Hipgnosis buys Benny Blanco catalogue – Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited has acquired a music catalogue from Benny Blanco and is looking to increase its borrowing facilities.
Changes to borrowing limits
The Hipgnosis board believes that it is appropriate to adopt a new borrowing policy under which the company may borrow up to a maximum of 40% of its gross asset value. The adoption of the proposed borrowing policy is considered to constitute a material change to the investment policy. Therefore as stated in its prospectus dated 27 June 2018 the company is required to obtain prior approval by shareholders at a general meeting.
[We haven’t had a huge amount of data yet on the income generating ability of the portfolio over time. On the face of it though, it looks as if the company could support some gearing and we’d expect any lender to take a thorough look at the portfolio before authorising any borrowing facility. All things being equal, this should boost returns above the 10% per annum over the medium term level that was published in SONG’s prospectus. Investors should watch to see if this is the case or whether the company is turning to leverage to boost returns that are lower than it was expecting.]
Benny Blanco catalogue
Benny Blanco is an American musician, songwriter and record producer who has written 29 Number 1 songs and is responsible for the sale of hundreds of millions of albums worldwide.
Benny Blanco has written and produced hit songs with Halsey, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Kesha, Sia, The Weeknd, Selena Gomez, Keith Urban, Tory Lanez, Wiz Khalifa, Kanye West, J Balvin and Juice Wrld.
The catalogue includes the Number 1 songs: ‘Love Yourself‘ by Justin Bieber; ‘Cold Water‘ by Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber and MØ; ‘Fire and the Flood‘ by Vance Joy; ‘Same Old Love‘ by Selena Gomez; ‘Luv‘ by Tory Lanez; ‘Don’t Wanna Know‘ by Maroon 5 featuring Kendrick Lamar; and ‘Freaky Friday‘ by Lil Dicky as well as the Platinum and Multi-Platinum certified ‘Castle on the Hill‘ by Ed Sheeran; ‘2002‘ by Anne-Marie and ‘Lonely Together‘ by Avicii.
‘Castle on the Hill’, which was co-written and performed by Ed Sheeran, was nominated for the 2018 Ivor Novello Award for ‘Most Performed Work’ and has been certified as 4x Platinum in the UK and 3x Platinum in the US as well as being streamed over 750 million times on Spotify alone.
‘Love Yourself’, which was co-written with Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran and Benny Blanco and produced by Benny Blanco, was the best performing single in the Billboard Hot 100 in 2016. It reached Number 1 in 15 countries including the UK and US where it was certified 4x Platinum and 7x Platinum respectively.
‘Cold Water’ by Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber and MØ, reached Number 1 in the UK where it is certified 2x Platinum and Number 2 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart where it is certified 4x Platinum. Globally it has achieved 25 Number 1 and 45 Top 10 chart positions.
In addition to his commercial success, Benny Blanco has received significant critical acclaim and was awarded the Hal David Starlight Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013. He has also received the BMI ‘Songwriter of the Year’ award fives times, won ‘Producer of the Year’ at the 2017 iHeart Radio awards as well as being nominated for seven Grammy awards.
Hipgnosis has acquired 100% of Benny Blanco’s copyright ownership in this catalogue of songs released since 2015 which comprises 93 songs achieving 65 Number 1 and 183 Chart positions globally and which have been streamed over 10 billion times. Benny Blanco was represented in the deal by Doug Mark, Andrew Luftman, and Zvi Edelman.
SONG : Hipgnosis buys Benny Blanco catalogue
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