Round Hill shares rocket on £376m music deal

Shares in the copyright owner of a string of songs by the Supremes and Louis Armstrong surged 64 per cent yesterday after it agreed to a £376m US takeover.

Round Hill Music Royalty (RHM), whose catalogue of more than 150,000 songs includes I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) by Meat Loaf, announced a deal with Nashville-based Concord.

The announcement also threw the spotlight on London-listed rival Hipgnosis, whose shares jumped more than 15.6 per cent amid speculation it might also prove an attractive takeover target. Its catalogue includes songs from Shakira and Neil Young.

RHM was founded by Josh Gruss, a former Bear Stearns investment banker who also previously worked in the music industry.

Gruss will net around £24m for his stake in the company.

Concord chief executive Bob Valentine said RHM had ‘built an impressive portfolio of music rights which generate revenue across a variety of income streams’.

RHM’s catalogue is concentrated on ‘evergreen’ music made before 2010. Its business involves shelling out for musicians’ back catalogues, giving them a one-off payday. It then earns revenues when the songs are played on the radio or streaming platforms.

The biggest-earning song last year was the mournful 1975 hit All By Myself written by Eric Carmen followed by Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World.

They helped the company achieve royalties of £29m last year, and a £850,000 profit.