Hipgnosis Songs has exceeded its latest fundraising target of £200 million after its new share placing was oversubscribed.
The company issued new C shares after delivering its latest set of financial results, but "significant" demand from new and existing investors increased its proceeds to £236.4m, making it Hipgnosis’ biggest equity raise to date.
Its investment advisor, The Family (Music) Limited, says it is "in active discussions on a pipeline of catalogues with an acquisition value of over £1bn, the company continues to expect to deploy the net proceeds of the Issue within three months".
This is our biggest fundraise to date, and the biggest fundraise by a LSE listed investment trust since the Covid-19 lockdown
Merck Mercuriadis, Hipgnosis Songs
Founder Merck Mercuriadis said: “Our mantra is that proven songs produce predictable and reliable income and are a highly investable uncorrelated asset class that can rival gold. I’m very grateful for the incomparable support we have had from our great institutional investors from day one and delighted that they are now, with us having become one of the biggest yielders on the FTSE 250, joined with significant participation from the retail sector.
"This is our biggest fundraise to date, and the biggest fundraise by a LSE listed investment trust since the Covid-19 lockdown, which speaks volumes for the financial community’s recognition of Songs as an asset class. In line with our current performance we will do our utmost to continue to deliver strong results for our investors by buying extraordinarily successful proven songs by culturally important artists and managing them with great responsibility.
"At the same time we will use the influence of our great songs and financial wherewithal to bring reform to the way the songwriter is remunerated. The songwriter is unjustly at the bottom of the traditional music business economic equation, our intention is to take the songwriter to the top!”
Hipgnosis delivered its latest set of financial results earlier this week. Driven by streaming revenues, the firm announced it had increased its catalogue revenue to £64.7m for the 12 months ending March 31, 2020. Its portfolio of 54 catalogues (13,291 songs) has been independently valued at £757m, a net increase of 11.4% since acquisition.
