Brookfield tunes into the music investment boom
Brookfield Asset Management has snapped up a stake in Primary Wave, a publisher with a music catalogue that ranges from Bob Marley and Stevie Nicks to Prince and Whitney Houston.
The investment giant said today that it has acquired “a significant minority interest” in the business and will commit $1.7bn to fund a permanent capital vehicle focused on buying music catalogues, royalty interests, and other intellectual property, in a deal valued in excess of $2bn.
Entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) will become a strategic partner and minority shareholder in Primary Wave.
The deal is the latest sign of investment appetite for music copyrights as online streaming becomes more lucrative.
Last year Blackstone announced plans to invest $1bn in acquiring music rights through a partnership with Hipgnosis Song Management, an advisory firm founded by music industry tycoon Merck Mercuriadis.
READ MORE: Justin Timberlake sells songs to Blackstone-backed fund
KKR has also bought a majority stake in Grammy award winning songwriter and producer Ryan Tedder and US band OneRepublic’s music catalogue.
Primary Wave’s catalogue of music consists of over 800 top-10 singles from musicians including Prince, Bob Marley, Whitney Houston, James Brown, Stevie Nicks, Ray Charles, Smokey Robinson.
“Strong secular growth trends, scarcity value of assets and the continued penetration of music in new forms of content delivery underpin this significant commitment to the asset class,” said Angelo Rufino, managing partner, Brookfield.
Allen & Company acted as financial advisor to Primary Wave and Paul Hastings served as legal advisor in connection with the transaction. Paul, Weiss represented Brookfield. CAA was represented by Kirkland & Ellis.
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