Vania Schlogel, the Founder and Managing Partner of the media and entertainment-focused investment firm Atwater Capital, has been appointed an independent Non-Executive Director of Hipgnosis Songs Fund.
Schlogel founded Los Angeles-headquartered private equity firm Atwater in 2017. Her company invests across the media and entertainment sector with a focus on companies that foster cultural diversity, working with management teams committed to embracing strong ESG practices.
Atwater’s investments have included Epidemic Sound, where Schlogel has been Chairwoman of the Board since 2017. Epidemic recently raised $450m at a $1.4bn valuation from funds managed by Blackstone Growth and EQT Growth.
Schlogel is also Chairwoman of the Board at another of Atwater’s investments – German content production and distribution company. LEONINE Studios.
Some in the music industry may know Schlogel best as the former Chief Investment Officer of Roc Nation, and the CIO of another then-Jay-Z-owned company, TIDAL.
Others will recognize her as a former member of KKR‘s Private Equity team, where she specialised in the Media sector and launched the Growth Equity division.
Schlogel was at KKR from 2009 to 2014. From 2011 to 2016, she sat on the Board of BMG – a key KKR investment during her tenure at the investment company.
“Vania has a terrific wealth of both private and public market experience and intimate knowledge of the music business at the highest levels. That’s an almost unique combination.”
Schlogel recently explained in an interview: “When I was at KKR the first investment I made was in BMG Music Publishing. Investing in music rights has become the plat de jour but back then people thought it was insane.
“We were looking for creative ways to deploy capital and over the course of three-and-a-half years we turned it into the world’s largest independent music publisher using a buy and build strategy.”
Schlogel began her career in the Leveraged Finance and Capital Markets groups at Goldman Sachs in London and LA.
Merck Mercuriadis, Founder of The Family (Music) Limited and Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, said: “I am delighted that Vania has agreed to join the Board of Hipgnosis Songs Fund. Vania has a terrific wealth of both private and public market experience and intimate knowledge of the music business at the highest levels. That’s an almost unique combination.
“Hipgnosis has done an incredible job in creating such an innovative and attractive proposition to investors while at the same time supporting some of music’s most important figures.”
Vania Schlogel
“The work of our Board led by Chair Andrew Sutch, and including Paul Burger, Sylvia Coleman, Simon Holden and Andrew Wilkinson has been an important part of our success. I am certain that Vania will complement this work perfectly and make very valuable contributions. We are all very pleased to welcome Vania to the Hipgnosis family.”
Vania Schlogel said: “Hipgnosis has done an incredible job in creating such an innovative and attractive proposition to investors while at the same time supporting some of music’s most important figures. I could not be happier to be joining the Board at this exciting stage in the company’s development.”
Schlogel now holds a total of 10,000 ordinary shares in Hipgnosis Songs Fund, which equates to 0.001% of the company’s issued share capital.
Hipgnosis recently announced its preliminary financial results for the 12 months to end of March 2021. The firm’s net revenues grew 66% year-on-year to $138.4 million.
A recent independent valuation of Hipgnosis’s catalog suggested the company’s music assets were worth $2.21 billion.Music Business Worldwide
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