So ends a stock market experiment that is unlikely to be repeated in a hurry: Hipgnosis Songs Fund, the music royalties company with songs by the likes of Beyoncé, Blondie and Chic, is to be sold to a US fund for less than its starting price in 2018 of 100p.
The immediate point is that 93p a share, or £1.1bn, is a lot better than shareholders were looking at in recent months. The price went as low as 60p during the company’s bust-up with its own investment adviser, a suspension of dividends (unforgivable for a fund designed to turn royalties into income) and a writedown in the value of assets after a tortuous debate about valuation methodologies.
