LONDON (CelebrityAccess) — Hipgnosis, an investment fund offering investors the opportunity to take a stake in musical intellectual property rights, reports that it has raised £200 million in an initial offering on the London Stock Exchange.
Set up by veteran music manager Merck Mercuriadis, Hipgnosis’ prospectus says it’s team has identified “a pipeline of Catalogues of Songs which contain proven, evergreen Songs from award winning songwriters” that will serve as the asset foundation for the fund’s portfolio.
The catalog includes music from more than “50 global recording artists” and covers hits from the past five decades (a hedging strategy, one presumes) including more than 10 number 1 hit songs in the UK and US and provide exposure to at least 8 songwriters, the prospectus said.
Hipgnosis promises that by leveraging their advisors’ connections and business acumen, they will be able to leverage their catalog rights into “attractive returns and income, with no correlation to equity markets.”
The fund’s advisory team (called The Family in the prospectus) boasts a number of well-known industry figures, including Nile Rodgers, Bill Leibowitz, Ian Montone, and Jason Flom.
The prospectus suggests that the business is potentially lucrative, and targets a net asset value return of “10 per cent or more” per year and seeks to pay an annual dividend yield of 5% per year once fully vested.
