Earlier this month, MBW reported that senior music biz sources had been telling us that Apollo World Administration had part-financed Sony Music Group‘s $1 billion+ acquisition of Queen’s catalog.
At present (July 26), Apollo confirmed that it’s the lead investor in a USD $700 million “capital answer” for Sony Music Group.
This “capital answer”, says Apollo, is meant to fund “investments within the music business”.
Apollo Companion Jamshid Ehsani mentioned: “We’re happy to offer a bespoke capital answer to an affiliate of one of many world’s main firms. This funding permits our shoppers to put money into excessive grade securities whereas serving to Sony to execute its enterprise plans.”
As we reported July 4, Apollo – which has roughly $671 billion of property below administration – has already been lively elsewhere within the music rights market lately.
In 2022, Apollo led what it claimed to be the “largest-ever” ABS (asset-backed securities) transaction for Harmony, when the latter firm priced a $1.8 billion bond providing backed by over 1 million music copyrights.
In the meantime, in 2021, former Tempo Music CEO Sherrese Clarke Soares arrange HarbourView Fairness Companions with backing from Apollo. HarbourView has since amassed roughly $1.6 billion in “regulatory managed property”.
Apollo additionally lately backed Harmony within the latter firm’s bid to amass the property of Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF).
Harmony formally pulled out of the HSF bidding struggle in Might, leaving world funding large Blackstone because the frontrunner within the takeover battle for HSF.
Earlier than that end result, Apollo had dedicated each debt and minority fairness to a bidding entity (Harmony Refrain Ltd) that supplied $1.51 billion to amass HSF.
Earlier right now, Hipgnosis Songs Fund confirmed that it could be delisting from the London Inventory Alternate subsequent week, successfully rubber-stamping Blackstone’s takeover of HSF.
Sony Music Group is known to be shopping for Queen’s world music publishing rights, their ‘title and likeness’ rights, plus their recorded music pursuits — together with their recording copyrights outdoors of North America, the place their masters are owned by Disney Music Group.Music Enterprise Worldwide
