Adds details on joint venture, report on music catalog deal
July 1 (Reuters) - Warner Music Group WMG.O and Bain Capital are launching a joint venture to purchase up to $1.2 billion of music catalogs, the companies said on Tuesday, the latest in a series of partnerships between record labels and private equity firms.
While the companies will work together to source and acquire catalogs across both recorded music and music publishing, Warner Music – the label behind artists such as Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars and Charli xcx – will manage marketing and distribution.
Separately on Tuesday, the Financial Times reported that Warner Music was in talks to acquire the Red Hot Chili Peppers' catalog – home to hit rock songs such as "Californication" - for more than $300 million.
The talks were ongoing and a deal might not materialize, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Warner Music and Bain Capital declined to comment on the report, while representatives for Red Hot Chili Peppers did not immediately respond to a Reuters request.
The Californian rock group, which has won six Grammy awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, was looking to sell their recorded masters catalog for upwards of $350 million, Billboard reported in February.
The joint venture, formed through equal commitments from Warner Music and Bain Capital, underscores the steady interest that investment firms have shown towards the music industry in recent years.
Billions of private equity dollars have gone into buying up catalogs of artists ranging from Bob Dylan to Justin Bieber, in deals that have turned music into an attractive asset class.
Blackstone BX.N, the world's largest alternative asset manager, last year agreed to buy music investor Hipgnosis Songs Fund for about $1.58 billion, while private capital group Apollo Global Management APO.N signed a $700 million investment deal with Sony Music Group.
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Shailesh Kuber)
((DeborahMary.Sophia@thomsonreuters.com;))
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