Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited (LON:SONG) has said it is contemplating an equity raise in the new year as it is in discussions on a pipeline of assets with an acquisition value of £1bn.
The firm, which invests in song catalogues, raised £426mln through two placings in July and September.
In a separate announcement, reporting its interim results, the FTSE 250-listed firm said that as of September 30, 2020, it had invested around £1.18bn through the acquisition of 117 catalogues, resulting in interests in 57,836 songs.
Of these, 2,845 have held Number 1 positions in global charts and 119 have won Grammy Awards.
During the six months to end September 2020, the fund acquired 63 catalogues which included classics such as Fleetwod Mac's "Go Your Own Way", Rick James' "Super Freak" and "You Can't Touch This" and the topical Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You". Remaining in the festive theme, Blondie's "One Way Or Another" features in this year's M&S Christmas TV advert.
In the half-year, Hipgnosis' operative net asset value increased by 7.4% to 125.35p while the fair value of all catalogues increased by £114mln, or 10%, excluding losses of £23.3mln due to unfavourable movements in foreign exchange.
These were due to strong fair value uplifts in the catalogues, streaming revenues starting to be recognised and received from emerging digital platforms including TikTok and Peloton and a reduction in the discount rate used by the independent valuer from 9% to 8.5%.
Net revenue doubled to £44mln and a second interim dividend of 1.3125p per share has been declared and paid.