Fancy making a quick £20 million? All you have to do is put in a bid for Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s portfolio of hits.
The music rights fund has had a disastrous few months, as it feuds with founder Merck Mercuriadis while its board attempts to convince shareholders it shouldn’t be wound up.
The board now has a novel proposal. If you submit a bid that the board recommends to shareholders, they’ll give you a £20 million lump sum. Apparently it’s needed to make sure any bids are “competitive” with a call option held by Mercuriadis.
So what’s the catch? Well, you’ll have to live with the shame of knowing you own HSF’s most-streamed song, Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You.
Absent from this week’s update is the latest on the fund’s attempts to renegotiate its agreement with Mercuriadis. Two months ago, the fund said it had asked him to propose new terms to stay on as investment adviser — the board had asked him to give up the call option; he wanted something in return. Now there’s no mention of those talks. What happened?
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