Blackstone Inc. (BX) made an offer of around $1.5bn to acquire Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd. (SONG), countering the earlier bid of $1.4bn by Concord Chorus.
Blackstone ups its Proposal in Bidding War for Hipgnosis
This offer comes after Hipgnosis – a London-listed music rights investment firm – accepted Concord’s proposal.
The latest Blackstone tender is the fourth augmented bid and was made on Saturday, 20 April 2024. It reportedly outstrips the Concord offer by about 7%. The latter proposed a takeover price of $1.16, which Blackstone countered with an offer of $1.24 per share in cash to obtain issued and to-be-issued shares. The company commented:
Blackstone strongly encourages the Board of Hipgnosis to recognise the significant increase in value available to all shareholders under the terms of its fourth proposal, over the $1.16 as set out in the Concord Offer, and to work with Blackstone to reach agreement on a unanimously recommended Firm Offer in an expeditious manner.
Previous Blackstone offers varied between 82 and 88 pence per share and were all less than Concord’s 93.2 pence per share bid on Thursday, 18 April 2024. Based on Bloomberg data, Concord is a music rights investment company underpinned by Apollo Global Management, Inc. (APO).
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Blackstone’s most recent bid hovers around 100 pence per share. Hipgnosis shares spiked in the wake of this bidding war. According to Bloomberg, the company ended Friday, 19 April 2024 trading 30% up at 91.9 pence per share.
The Hipgnosis board accepted the Concord deal, indicating in a statement that it is improbable that its share price will rise because of “numerous company-specific and certain market issues.”
