The battle for the Hipgnosis Songs Fund heated up further today, as the group manages the fund’s portfolio of hits threatened to use an option to buy up all the fund’s songs if it is cast aside in a potential acquisition.
The fund agreed a takeover deal last week with US-based royalties investor Concord, which has its own management team, meaning it would not require the services of Hipgnosis Songs Management (HSM), which acts as the fund’s investment adviser. Private equity giant Blackstone, which counts HSM as one of its portfolio companies, then made a proposal about a rival bid of its own, which the fund said it would be “minded to” accept.
