Hipgnosis drums up fresh bid in takeover battle

LONDON (AFP): A battle to buy UK music rights owner Hipgnosis Songs Fund has taken a fresh twist after US rival Concord increased its takeover offer, slightly beating a bid by Blackstone.

Concord late Wednesday said it had offered $1.5 billion for Hipgnosis, whose catalogue includes Justin Bieber, Shakira and Neil Young.

This is more than its original $1.4 billion offer that preceded a higher bid from US asset manager Blackstone.

“We are pleased to announce this increased offer for Hipgnosis,” Concord chief executive Bob Valentine said in a statement.

“We continue to believe that this is the best outcome for Hipgnosis shareholders as it provides them with the opportunity to realise their investment in cash at a significant premium to the price where the shares were trading before our bid last week.”

Concord’s improved offer is priced at $1.25 per Hipgnosis share, which compares with $1.24 per share by Blackstone.

Hipgnosis — co-founded in 2018 by guitarist and producer Nile Rodgers and Merck Mercuriadis, the former manager of Beyonce and Elton John — manages the rights to more than 150 of the world’s biggest song catalogues.

But the London-listed fund, which has been plagued by concerns over asset valuations, recently slashed the value of its songs catalogue by more than a quarter to $1.93 billion.

That came after Hipgnosis revealed in December that its first-half net losses tripled on tumbling sales.