Key Points
– The Chrysalis catalogue, comprising over 50,000 titles, has been built up over 30 years and includes songs from Blondie, Billy Idol, David Bowie, and Wet Wet Wet to David Gray, OutKast, Moorcheeba, and the Lightning Seeds. The portfolio also includes interests in several vintage record catalogues including Tom Jones and The Beatles.
– The deal allows Chrysalis to unlock the inherent value of its catalogue of music rights whist maintaining ownership and management control
– The GBP60m facility represents around 40% of the current value of Chrysalis’ music publishing catalogue
– The 15 year facility is secured against the catalogue and its Net Publishers Share (NPS) and is non recourse to the remainder of the Group
– Around GBP25m of the funds will be used to refinance bank borrowings and a further GBP16m will be used for projects in the music and book publishing businesses. The remainder will be drawn down as and when required. None of the funds will be available for New Media which has its own ring fenced resources.
– This restructuring of existing borrowings enables the other Chrysalis divisions (radio, TV production, media products, new media) to arrange independent loan facilities on their own strengths and security.
Nigel Butterfield – Group Financial Director said:
Today’s completion brings to a close a process that has taken some 18 months. The end result is an innovative structure to accommodate what we believe will be the largest ever securitised music deal and certainly the first to involve a multi-jurisdictional international music-publishing catalogue. The transaction provides significant ongoing long-term finance for the general needs of the Group, whilst at the same time unlocking the assets of each of the other divisions from the existing security structure.
