NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Round Hill Music Royalty Partners (“RHM” or the “Firm”), a private equity firm dedicated to acquiring music publishing assets, today announced that it has successfully closed its debut fund, Round Hill Music Royalty Fund LP (the ”Fund”), with $202 million of committed capital and an additional $7.4 million in co-investment funds. The Fund exceeded its $200 million target. Forbes Private Capital Group acted as the exclusive placement agent for Round Hill Music Partners.
Round Hill Music Royalty Partners invests in music copyrights with an emphasis on iconic compositions that generate annuity-like royalty cash flow. The Firm leverages its deep experience and industry contacts to increase cash flow through improved licensing and administration.
"We are pleased to announce the final closing of our first fund at level that exceeded our target. We have built a premier, institutional quality platform to invest directly in the music royalty space. We thank all of our partners for their confidence in and support of Round Hill," said Josh Gruss, CEO of Round Hill Music.
The diversified base of investors includes: two university endowments, two large hospital pension plans, a NYSE-listed insurance company, smaller endowments and foundations and several family offices. “We have successfully attracted an experienced group of investors who recognize the uncorrelated and stable nature of music royalty streams and our team’s ability to source exclusive investments, assess opportunities and create value for the catalogs,” Gruss continued.
Neil Gillis, President of RHM added, “We look forward to continuing to build our robust portfolio of iconic music titles. Our team’s extensive knowledge, experience and deep relationships in the music publishing industry positions us well to source and execute proprietary acquisitions and maximize the value of their assets.”
Round Hill Music’s management team has over 160 years of combined investment and music industry experience with a proven ability to execute. In addition to Josh Gruss, the senior executives includes: (i) Richard Rowe, Vice Chairman, who was formerly President of Sony/ATV Music Publishing and worked for Sony Music/CBS for 25 years; Neil Gillis, President, who previously served as the Managing Director of Alfred Music Publishing, President of S1 Songs America and East Coast General Manager for Concord Music Group after spending 16 years with Warner/Chappell Music; and Jennifer Scher, CFO, who was formerly CFO of Spirit Music and Director of Corporate Finance at EMI Music Publishing. They are supported by 13 other professionals with extensive backgrounds in the music industry.
Round Hill has already invested or committed more than $60 million to 20 music catalog acquisitions and various co-publishing agreements. The more than 10,000 songs in the portfolio are diversified by artist, genre and musical era and include songs from the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, James Brown, Steve Perry, Carrie Underwood and Bruno Mars among many others. Recently, the Firm acquired 100% of the publishing rights of the rock band Tesla’s entire song catalog and acquired the Big Tractor catalog, which has an expansive roster of hit country songs and artists.
In addition to Forbes Private Capital Group, Kirkland & Ellis LLP provided fund formation counsel.
About Round Hill Music Royalty Partners
Founded in 2011 by Josh Gruss, Round Hill Music is a full service music publisher and music rights investment firm, with its headquarters in New York as well as offices in Los Angeles and Nashville. The Firm seeks to acquire and manage a diversified portfolio of iconic music copyrights and to provide a high level of service to its songwriters. Round Hill Music’s team consists of seasoned music publishing and investment professionals. Round Hill Music owns or administers over 10,000 songs recorded and performed by the following artists: the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, James Brown, Bon Jovi, Steve Perry, Louis Armstrong, Tina Turner, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Def Leppard, Carrie Underwood, Backstreet Boys, and Katy Perry among many other artists. Songs in the Firm’s catalogs include, "All of Me", "Living in America", "Bye, Bye, Bye" "Waking Up in Vegas", "How Do You Stop", "She Loves You", "I Saw Her Standing There", "I'm Alive", "Inside Your Heaven", "If It Does Not Snow on Christmas", and "Oh Sherrie".
About Forbes Private Capital Group
Forbes Private Capital Group ("FPCG") is an independent capital raising firm specializing in the private capital markets. The firm focuses on raising capital for private equity, credit, real estate, real assets and opportunistic strategies as well as direct transactions in both developed and emerging markets. FPCG advises on all aspects of the fundraising process and beyond, including competitive positioning and market assessment, marketing materials and related documentation, partnership terms and conditions as well as investor relations. The firm utilizes a rigorous manager selection and due diligence process. FPCG’s global distribution capability extends to endowments, foundations, corporate and public pension funds, ultra-high net worth families, sovereign wealth funds and other limited partners throughout the U.S., Europe, Middle East and Asia. Over the past decade, the team of 18 professionals has been dedicated to developing and fostering these relationships. Forbes Private Capital Group is a partnership with Forbes Financial Services, LLC and operates as a FINRA regulated broker-dealer in the U.S.