Round Hill Music Royalty Fund’s shareholders voted on Wednesday to sell the fund’s assets to U.S.-based music company Concord in a deal that values the company at $469 million. Of the 69% of Round Hill Music shareholders who were eligible to vote, 99% voted to approve the sale, which fund chairman Robert Naylor called a “resounding endorsement.”
“The strength of support shown by shareholders in their vote for this transaction (shows) the value that we have been able to deliver on their behalf since the IPO of the Round Hill Music Royalty Fund in November 2020,” Naylor said in a statement. “It reflects the quality of the management and the portfolio that the transaction has concluded so efficiently and with a counterparty of the calibre of Concord.”
The deal, first announced in early September, means Concord will pay investors $1.15 a share and give Concord access to a catalog of 150,000 songs. On the day the deal was announced, Concord’s offer presented a more than 67% premium to the fund’s share price of $0.69 on Sept. 7.
While the fund’s share price has soared since then — it closed at $1.15 on Oct. 18 — the deal presented investors with a premium opportunity to get out of the fund, which fell more than 31% from its initial public offering in November 2020 to Sept. 7. Concord buys the fund’s assets at an 11.5% discount to the portfolio’s net asset value.
The deal was widely expected to receive shareholder approval after a group of shareholders representing 33% of shares that was led by Josh Gruss, Round Hill Music co-founder and CEO, voiced support for the deal.
Investors of music royalty funds will be watching for the results of another portfolio sale by rival London-listed fund Hipgnosis Songs Fund next week. Hipgnosis Songs investors will vote on whether to continue or wind-down the fund, as well as whether to approve the sale of roughly 20% of the fund’s portfolio to a privately held sister fund that is backed by the private equity fund Blackstone. That vote will be held Oct. 26.
