Concord, the world’s leading independent music company, has successfully issued $1.765 billion in a series of new five-year, seven-year, and ten-year senior notes. The ten-year tranche was privately placed and represents the longest duration ABS (Asset-Backed Security) issuance at scale in the music sector. The notes are secured by Concord’s catalog of over 1.3 million music copyrights, featuring the songs and recordings of marquee artists such as The Beatles, Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Carrie Underwood, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Daddy Yankee, Ed Sheeran, Genesis, Imagine Dragons, John Fogerty, Kiss, Michael Jackson, Otis Redding, Phil Collins, Pink Floyd, R.E.M., Rihanna, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Taylor Swift, and The Rolling Stones. The latest issuance represents Concord’s fourth securitization offering and the largest and longest tenured asset-backed term securitization of music rights to date.
Concord’s securitization catalog is valued at more than $5.1 billion and the notes were rated A+ by KBRA and A2 by Moody’s. Apollo (NYSE: APO), through its Capital Solutions business and affiliates ATLAS SP Partners and Redding Ridge Asset Management, structured the ABS transaction and formed an investor syndicate led by Apollo-managed funds and affiliates. Proceeds from the issuance will be used to repay the company’s $1.65 billion 2022-1 note series and refinance and extend its $100 million variable funding note. The transaction was more than three times oversubscribed, reflecting robust investor demand underpinning Concord’s ABS strategy.
“As Concord continues to grow both our catalog and frontline roster, ensuring long-term access to institutional capital and continuing to build upon our strong financial foundation are crucial. ABS transactions like the one we just closed will remain a vital part of our growth strategy, allowing us to continue to lower our cost of capital while expanding our global capabilities in support of the artists and songwriters we serve,” said Bob Valentine, CEO of Concord. “I am incredibly grateful to the Apollo team, who continue to provide customized solutions so that Concord can live out its mission to elevate the voices of artists around the world.”
“We are pleased to structure and lead this landmark ABS transaction for Concord, which represents a continuation of our long-term financing partnership and demonstrates Concord’s innovative approach to music securitization through the issuance of the industry’s first 10-year tranche,” said Apollo Partner Michael Paniwozik. “We continue to be impressed by the quality and breadth of the actively managed catalog that Concord has built and look forward to supporting its journey for years to come.”
“It has been immensely rewarding to support Concord’s continued evolution leveraging the ABS structure that we established in 2022,” said Apollo Managing Director Paul Sipio. “Since that time, Bob and team have made tremendous progress advancing the company’s growth strategy through several additive acquisitions. We believe the four transactions that we’ve executed with Concord to date reflect the differentiated nature of Apollo’s integrated platform, bringing together combined capabilities of Apollo, ATLAS SP, and Redding Ridge to provide tailored structured solutions.”
Apollo Global Securities, LLC and ATLAS SP Securities acted as joint bookrunners for the transaction, Redding Ridge Asset Management served as structuring agent, with the Bank of New York Mellon acting as trustee. Virtu Global Advisors, LLC provided valuation services, while DLA Piper provided legal counsel for Concord and Milbank LLP for Apollo affiliates.
CONCORD is the world’s leading independent music company. The Company supports more than 125,000 artists and songwriters whose works are licensed, marketed, and performed globally. Concord’s growing catalog of 1.3 million songs, compositions, sound recordings, films, plays, and musicals is one of the most impactful and culturally relevant collections of creative rights in history. Concord is headquartered in Nashville with offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, Berlin, Melbourne, and Miami.
Supporting Concord and its predecessor companies since 2006, GREAT MOUNTAIN PARTNERS (“GMP”) is a New Haven, CT based asset manager with more than $10BN AUM, founded by Alex Thomson and Jon Rotolo. GMP’s team are longtime investors in the media and entertainment industry with experience across music, film and TV, live events and other IP based assets. GMP brings a long-term and solutions-oriented mindset to partnering with institutional investors and portfolio company leadership.
Concord Label Group embodies a philosophy that places artists at the center of their own creative journey. With a global team committed to providing unparalleled resources and personalized support, Concord Label Group boasts a diverse roster across seven active labels; Concord Records, Easy Eye Sound, Fearless Records, Loma Vista Recordings, PULSE Records, Rounder Records, Concord Theatricals Recordings, and Craft Recordings which manages legendary catalog labels such as Stax, Fania, Prestige, Telarc, and Varèse Sarabande among others. Its portfolio of master recordings contains 300,000 active tracks by some of the world’s most influential artists who have earned over 300 GRAMMY Awards and more than 400 RIAA certifications.
Concord’s master recording portfolio contains more than 275,000 active song recordings and includes no less than 300 GRAMMY® winners (representing over 6.6% of all the GRAMMYs® ever awarded) and over 500 Gold, Platinum, Multi-Platinum and Diamond RIAA certifications across 260 titles.
Concord Music Publishing is a global, full-service, independent music publisher offering bespoke creative support from its A&R, Synchronization and Marketing teams and diligent administration by its in-house Copyright, Licensing, Income Tracking and Royalty departments.
Headquartered in Nashville with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Berlin and Melbourne, Concord Music Publishing owns or administers more than one million copyrighted musical works. Spanning nearly two centuries of song, through a vast array of genres and territories, Concord represents the world’s most celebrated songwriters, composers and lyricists.
Concord invested in PULSE Music Group in 2020, forming an exclusive joint venture and reaffirming its commitment to developing frontline pop hits. PULSE’s current songwriter roster includes James Blake, Cordae, Trevor Daniel, El-P, Brent Faiyez, FNZ, Tyler Johnson, Kehlani, Bonnie McKee, OG Parker, OZ, Rich The Kid, Starrah, Ty Dolla $ign, and YEBBA.
