New York-based private equity firm Lyric Capital Group, parent company of Spirit Music Group, has successfully closed its second fund, with total commitments of approximately $410 million.
In addition, the firm also raised senior debt financing to bring Lyric’s new deployable capital to over $800 million.
Lyric says that it exceeded its funding target, with “support from a diverse group of new and existing institutional investors”.
Commenting on the news, Jon Singer, Managing Partner and Co-Founder at Lyric Capital, and Chairman of Spirit Music Group, said: “Thanks to our relationships and proven reputation as good stewards of legendary song catalogs and recordings, we have a robust pipeline of proprietary opportunities and the capital to pursue them.”
Lyric Capital Group was founded in 2019 by Jon Singer and Ross Cameron.
Lyric’s latest fundraise follows the news in October 2021 that the firm had struck a $500 million strategic alliance with Northleaf Capital.
Since that deal, Toronto-based Northleaf has used Spirit Music Group’s music assets to support the raise of a $303.8 million bond offering.
The Spirit Music Group portfolio is largely made up of mature music royalty assets managed by Lyric Capital Group and represents combined catalogs totaling over 100,000 songs.
The company’s repertoire includes hits recorded by such artists as The Who, Ed Sheeran, John Legend, Chicago, The Go-Go’s, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Camilla Cabello, Jay-Z, Ricky Martin, Brad Paisley, Toto, Madonna, Jason Aldean, Graham Nash, T.Rex, Charles Mingus, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Billy Squier, Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston, Eminem, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Eminem, Salt-N-Pepa, Electric Light Orchestra, Tom Petty, The Traveling Wilburys, and more.
In February last year, Spirit Music Group acquired the recorded music catalog of multi-Platinum country superstar, Jason Aldean, in a $100 million-plus deal.
Lyric’s new $800 million raise marks the latest evidence that the music rights acquisition space is hotting up again, and follows a string of recent big-money deals and investments.
Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based investment company Shamrock Capital, best known for buying the master rights to Taylor Swift’s first six studio albums from Big Machine, raised more than $600 million in commitments for its third equity fund.
Meanwhile, in October, Primary Wave announced a new $2 billion deal with Brookfield Capital.
Plus, in January, Korea-based K-pop and media giant Kakao Entertainment secured an investment worth around $1 billion from sovereign wealth funds, part of which it plans to use to develop its music operation via acquisition. (Kakao, like HYBE, has this month announced that it’s acquired a minority stake in SM Entertainment.)
“I couldn’t be more excited about completing our latest fundraise with the participation of existing and new investors which validates our unique and collaborative approach to acquiring high-quality assets from recording artists and songwriters.”
Jon Singer, Lyric Capital and Spirit Music Group
Jon Singer, Managing Partner, and Co-Founder at Lyric Capital, and Chairman Spirit Music Group, said: “I couldn’t be more excited about completing our latest fundraise with the participation of existing and new investors which validates our unique and collaborative approach to acquiring high-quality assets from recording artists and songwriters.”
“We are very pleased to close our second fund and thank our investors for their continued support of our unique platform.”
Ross Cameron, Lyric Capital
Ross Cameron, Partner, and Co-Founder at Lyric Capital, added: “Since inception, Lyric Capital has transacted on over $800 million to develop outstanding catalogs of music, in partnership with artists and songwriters.
“Our disciplined investment approach is informed by our ownership of Spirit Music Group and supported by 25 years of proprietary music royalty data providing us with an unmatched insight when acquiring and managing copyrights.
“We are very pleased to close our second fund and thank our investors for their continued support of our unique platform.”
Eaton Partners served as the exclusive placement agent and Ropes & Gray LLP served as legal counsel. Truist (formerly SunTrust) and Pinnacle were co-leads on the debt syndication for Lyric Capital Group.Music Business Worldwide
