Hipgnosis plots £250m share placing to fund song buying spree
Hipgnosis today announced plans to raise £250m through a share placing as the music royalties investment firm ploughs on with its aggressive expansion strategy.
The London-listed company said it aims to raise the funds through the placing of up to 216m new ordinary shares at 116p per share.
It will also offer up to 3.6m new shares to retail investors to raise a further £4m.
Hipgnosis, which generates revenue from placing songs in films and TV shows, said it will use the cash injection to help fund a string of song catalogue acquisitions from a pipeline worth roughly £1bn.
Earlier this month the company said it had spent more than 80 per cent of the proceeds from its £200m share placing in July following a string of recent purchases.
Recent acquisitions include the song portfolios of Wu-Tang Clan producer and rapper RZA and Pretenders lead singer Chrissie Hynde.
“We have made a significant impact on the songwriting community over the last two-plus years and the overwhelming love and support we have from these great creators has led to further opportunities on evergreen songs and catalogues,” said founder Merck Mercuriadis.
“I would like to thank all the songwriters, artists and producers that have made us first choice to look after your incomparable legacies.”
Hipgnosis said it has secured exclusivity on roughly 50 song catalogues with a total value of £250m.
It said the catalogues included some of the “most influential hit songs of the last six decades” and would help diversify the company’s income by artists, genre and vintage.