A Manatt team led by Manatt Entertainment partner and leader Jordan Bromley, partner Eric Custer and associate Beau Stapleton represented Dundee Partners in its $1.1 billion acquisition of Kobalt Capital Limited’s music rights portfolio, KMR Music Royalties II, alongside global investment firm KKR. The portfolio, composed primarily of music publishing copyrights, includes a diverse collection of over 62,000 recordings from acclaimed artists across pop, rock, hip-hop, EDM and country.
As part of the transaction, Dundee Partners entered a joint venture with KKR to create Chord Music Partners, which will take ownership of the KMR Music Royalties II portfolio at closing. KKR will also contribute other music copyrights to Chord, positioning the platform as the owner of an impressive and diversified portfolio of royalties.
Manatt is proud to have supported Dundee Partners and KKR on this significant transaction and market development. Chord will continue to invest in innovative technology, media and entertainment businesses that are connecting fans to music in new ways, and we look forward to further advising Dundee and KKR in the growth and expansion of Chord’s groundbreaking catalog.
The Manatt team also included Entertainment Partner Gary Gilbert, Associates Jonathan Simmons, Arian Zadeh, John Meller, Naader Banki, Sean Kiernan, Alex Spring, Edward Osher, Natasha Azava, Mackenzie Pearson, Kendrick Coq and Emily Gelman; Senior Attorney W. Joseph Anderson; Law Clerk Suna Izgi; Copyright/Publishing Specialist Brian Sbardelli; Copyright Specialist Lumen Young; and Partner June DeHart.
To learn more about this acquisition, read the press release here, or coverage from Variety, Reuters, Law360, Music Business Worldwide, Billboard and PE Hub.