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Beyoncé and Blondie song fund Hipgnosis needs to find a new tune | Nils Pratley
Investment fund’s shares fell as it cut the value of its music portfolio – either sell-off or break-up looms
The investment trust managed to put the decimal point in the wrong place in its much-anticipated announcement of what a new valuer thinks its catalogue of songs from acts such as Blondie, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Shakira might really be worth. Third, the board said the lower figure means no dividends “for the foreseeable future”, a humiliating position for a fund established to turn royalty payments from a broad portfolio of songs into a reliable income stream for investors. Add all those factors to the mix – plus a fall-out with the fund’s investment adviser, a firm led by the Hipgnosis pioneer Merck Mercuriadis and majority-owned by Blackstone – and one can understand why the market price of the shares fell to 58p, down 8% on the day.
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