Muse Group is the parent firm of brands and companies including Ultimate Guitar, Hal Leonard, MuseScore and Audacity among others: a key company in the music-education and tech space.
Its acquisition of Hal Leonard in December 2023 was backed by funding from private-equity firm Francisco Partners. Two and a half years later, the latter is exiting the investment – although it’s all on friendly terms.
Muse Group is buying out its stake using cash on hand as well as credit facilities arranged by J.P. Morgan, leaving its founder and CEO Eugeny Naidenov in majority control of the company.
“We are grateful for Francisco Partners’ partnership and the support they provided across this journey – helping to execute and fully integrate the acquisition of Hal Leonard and acting as a valuable strategic partner in the strengthening of our global footprint, product offering, and technology,” said executive chairman and COO Mo Chahdi.
Muse Group is now eyeing more acquisitions, citing “businesses with loyal communities, strong product foundations, high intent users, and the potential to become more valuable as part of the Muse Group ecosystem.”
Exiting music investments is currently a trend for Francisco Partners. It sold Kobalt to Primary Wave Music earlier this year, while Native Instruments, which it bought a majority stake in back in 2021, is in the process of being acquired by InMusic after entering preliminary insolvency proceedings.
