In a break from individual music catalogues being rumoured to be up for sale, a pair of prominent companies in the music-publishing sector have been making headlines in recent days.
MBW reported on advanced talks for Primary Wave to acquire Kobalt Music Group, noting that it was “among a number of potential suitors” who had been negotiating with Kobalt’s majority owner Francisco Partners.
Separately, Billboard claimed that the deal could value Kobalt at more than $1.5bn – double the $750m that the company was valued at in 2022 when the investment firm bought its majority stake.
The other company at the centre of rumours this week is Reservoir Media. Bloomberg reported that activist hedge fund Irenic Capital Management has submitted a surprise bid for the company, valuing it at $1.1bn-$1.2bn.
Irenic already has a stake of around 9% in Reservoir, which is a public company.
“The firm is talking to private credit firms about financing a potential acquisition via direct-loans and asset-backed debt secured by a catalog of songs,” reported Bloomberg, while stressing that Reservoir’s openness to a sale is unclear.
